Mnvn 
viVIL 


GENERAL  JOHN  B.  GORDON 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Class 


REMINISCENCES  OF  THE 
CIVIL  WAR 


GENERAL  JOHN  R.  GORDON 

From  a  photograph  taken  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  was  thirty- 
three  years  of  age. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  THE 
CIYIL  WAR 


BY 

GENERAL  JOHN  B.  GORDON 

OP  THE  CONFEDERATE  ARMY 


WITH   PORTRAITS 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBXER'S    SON'S 
1911 


Copyright.  1903.  by 
CHARLES  SCBIBNERS  SONS 

Published  October,  1903 


(5)67 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

i  MY  FIRST  COMMAND  AND  THE  OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR 

A  company  of  mountaineers  —  Joe  Brown's  pikes  — The  Rac 
coon  Boughs  —  The  first  Rebel  yell  —  A  flag  presented  to  the 
company  —  Arrival  at  Montgomery,  Alabama— Analysis  of  the 
causes  of  the  war  —  Slavery's  part  in  it  —  Liberty  in  the  Union 
of  the  States,  and  liberty  in  the  independence  of  the  States  .  3 

ii  THE  TRIP  FROM  CORINTH 

The  Raccoon  Roughs  made  a  part  of  the  Sixth  Alabama — The 
journey  to  Virginia  —  Families  divided  in  Tennessee,  Ken 
tucky,  and  Missouri — A  father  captured  by  a  son  in  battle — The 
military  spirit  in  Virginia— Andrew  Johnson  and  Parson  Brown- 
low  Union  leaders  in  Tennessee — Johnson's  narrowness  after 
ward  exhibited  as  President  .  .  .  , 26 

m  BULL  RUN  OR  MANASSAS 

The  first  great  battle  of  the  war  —  A  series  of  surprises  —  Mis 
haps  and  mistakes  of  the  Confederates— Beauregard's  lost 
order— General  Ewell's  rage  — The  most  eccentric  officer  in  the 
Confederate  army— Anecdotes  of  his  career— The  wild  panic 
of  the  Union  troops — Senseless  frights  that  cannot  be  ex 
plained—Illustrated  at  Cedar  Creek 37 

iv  THE  SPRING  OF  1862— BATTLE  OF  SEVEN  PINES  OR 
FAIR  OAKS 

Indomitable  Americanism,  North  and  South— Rally  of  the 
North  after  Bull  Run— Severity  of  winter  quarters  in  Virginia 
—  McClellan's  army  landed  at  Yorktown — Retreat  of  the  Con 
federates—On  the  Chickahominy— Terrible  slaughter  at  Seven 
Pines— A  brigade  commander 47 

v  PRESENTIMENTS  AND  FATALISM  AMONG  SOLDIERS 

Wonderful  instances  of  prophetic  foresight— Colonel  Lomax 
predicts  his  death— The  vision  of  a  son  dying  two  days  before 

226610 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I'AGE 

it  happened— General  Ramseur's  furlough— Colonel  Augustus 
Gordon's  calm  announcement  of  his  death — Instances  of  mis 
placed  fatalism— General  D.  H.  Hill's  indifference  to  danger  .  60 

vi  BATTLE  OF  MALVERN  HILL 

Continuous  fighting  between  McClellan's  and  Lee's  armies- 
Hurried  burial  of  the  dead— How  "Stonewall"  Jackson  got 
his  name— The  secret  of  his  wonderful  power — The  predica 
ment  of  my  command  at  Malvern  Hill— A  fruitless  wait  for  re- 
enforcements— Character  the  basis  of  true  courage— Anecdote 
of  General  Polk 70 

vii  ANTIETAM 

Restoration  of  McClellan  to  command  of  the  Federals— My 
command  at  General  Lee's  centre — Remarkable  series  of  bay 
onet  charges  by  the  Union  troops— How  the  centre  was  held— 
Bravery  of  the  Union  commander— A  long  struggle  for  life  .  80 

vni  CHANCELLORSVILLE 

A  long  convalescence— Enlivened  by  the  author  of  "Georgia 
Scenes"— The  movement  upon  Hooker's  army  at  Chancellors- 
ville — Remarkable  interview  between  Lee  and  Stonewall 
Jackson— The  secret  of  Jackson's  character— The  storming  of 
Marye's  Heights— Some  famous  war-horses 92 

ix  WAR  BY  THE  BRAVE  AGAINST  THE  BRAVE 

The  spirit  of  good-fellowship  between  Union  and  Confederate 
soldiers — Disappearance  of  personal  hatred  as  the  war  pro 
gressed—The  Union  officer  who  attended  a  Confederate  dance 
— American  chivalry  at  Vicksburg— Trading  between  pickets 
on  the  Rappahannock— Incidents  of  the  bravery  of  color-bearers 
on  both  sides— General  Curtis's  kindness— A  dash  for  life 
cheered  by  the  enemy 105 

x  RETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  LEADERS  AND  EVENTS 

Confederate  victories  up  to  the  winter  of  1863— Southern  con 
fidence  in  ultimate  independence— Progress  of  Union  armies 
in  the  West— Fight  for  the  control  of  the  Mississippi— General 
Butler  in  possession  of  New  Orleans— The  new  era  in  naval 
construction— Significance  of  the  battle  of  the  Monitor  and 
Merrimac— Great  leaders  who  had  come  into  prominence  in 
both  armies— The  death  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston— General 
Lee  the  most  unassuming  of  great  commanders 120 

xi  GETTYSBURG 

Why  General  Lee  crossed  the  Potomac— The  movement  into 
Pennsylvania— Incidents  of  the  march  to  the  Susquehanna— 


CONTENTS  vii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

The  first  day  at  Gettysburg— Union  forces  driven  back— The 
key  of  the  position — Why  the  Confederates  did  not  seize  Cem 
etery  Ridge— A  defence  of  General  Lee's  strategy— The  fight  at 
Little  Round  Top— The  immortal  charge  of  Pickett's  men — 
General  Meade's  deliberate  pursuit— Lee's  request  to  be 
relieved 137 

XII    VlCKSBURG  AND  HELENA 

The  four  most  crowded  and  decisive  days  of  the  war— Vicks- 
burg  the  culmination  of  Confederate  disaster— Frequent  change 
of  commanders  in  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department— General 
Grant's  tunnel  at  Fort  Hill— Courage  of  Pemberton's  soldiers — 
Explosion  of  the  mine— Hand-to-hand  conflict — The  surrender  177 

xni  FROM  VICKSBURG  AND  GETTYSBURG  TO  CHICKAMAUGA 

Lee's  army  again  headed  toward  Washington— He  decides  not 
to  cross  the  Potomac  at  the  opening  of  winter — Meade's  coun 
ter-attack—Capture  of  a  redoubt  on  the  Rappahannock  —  A 
criticism  of  Secretary  Stanton— General  Bragg's  strategy — 
How  Rosecrans  compelled  the  evacuation  of  Chattanooga  .  .  188 

xiv  CHICKAMAUGA 

One  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of  modern  times— Comparison 
with  other  great  battles  of  the  world — Movements  of  both 
armies  before  the  collision— A  bird's-eye  view— The  night 
after  the  battle— General  Thomas's  brave  stand — How  the 
assault  of  Longstreet's  wing  was  made— Both  sides  claim  a 
victory 198 

xv  MISSIONARY  RIDGE— TRIUNE  DISASTER 

Why  General  Bragg  did  not  pursue  Rosecrans  after  Chicka- 
mauga— Comparison  of  the  Confederates  at  Missionary  Ridge 
with  the  Greeks  at  Marathon— The  Battle  above  the  Clouds— 
Heroic  advance  by  WalthalPs  Mississippians— General  Grant's 
timely  arrival  with  reinforcements — The  way  opened  to  Atlanta  213 

xvi  WINTER  ON  THE  RAPIDAN 

In  camp  near  Clark's  Mountain — Religious  awakening— Re 
vival  services  throughout  the  camps— General  Lee's  interest  in 
the  movement— Southern  women  at  work— Extracts  from  Gen 
eral  Lee's  letters  to  his  wife — Influence  of  religion  on  the 
soldiers7  charact;  r 229 

xvii  THE  WILDERNESS— BATTLE  OF  MAY  5 

Beginning  of  the  long  fight  between  Grant  and  Lee— Grant 
crosses  the  Rapidan— First  contact  of  the  two  armies— Ewell's 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

repulse— A  rapid  countercharge— A  strange  predicament— The 
Union  centre  broken— Unprecedented  movement  which  saved 
the  Confederate  troops 235 

XVHI  THE  WILDERNESS— BATTLE  OF  MAY  6 

The  men  ordered  to  sleep  on  their  arms— Report  of  scouts— 
Sedgwick's  exposed  position— A  plan  proposed  to  flank  and 
crush  him— General  Early's  objections  to  it— Unfounded  belief 
that  Burnside  protected  Sedgwick— General  Lee  orders  a  move 
ment  in  the  late  afternoon— Its  success  until  interrupted  by 
darkness— The  Government  official  records  prove  that  Early 
was  mistaken 243 

xix  RESULTS  OF  THE  DRAWN  BATTLES 

General  Grant  the  aggressor— Failure  to  dislodge  Lee— An  ex 
citing  night  ride  — Surrounded  by  Federal  troops — A  narrow 
escape  in  the  darkness— General  Lee's  comments  on  the  as 
sault  upon  Sedgwick— A  remarkable  prediction  as  to  General 
Grant's  next  movement 262 

xx  SPOTTSYLVANIA 

General  Lee's  prophecy  fulfilled— Hancock's  assault  on  May  12 
—One  of  his  greatest  achievements— General  Lee  to  the  head 
of  the  column— Turned  back  by  his  own  men— Hancock  re 
pulsed—The  most  remarkable  battle  of  the  war— Heroism  on 
both  sides 271 

xxi  MOVEMENTS  AFTER  SPOTTSYLVANIA 

A  surprising  capture— Kind  treatment  received  by  prisoners 
— Five  rainy  days  of  inaction— Fighting  resumed  on  May  18— 
Hancock's  corps  ordered  to  the  assault— General  Grant's  order 
to  Meade  :  "Where  Lee  goes,  there  you  will  go  also"— How 
Lee  turned  the  tables— Fighting  it  out  on  this  line  all  summer 
— Lee's  men  still  resolute  after  the  Wilderness 287 

xxn  HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE 

The  movement  upon  Lynchburg— Hunter's  sudden  panic- 
Devastation  in  the  Valley— Burning  of  private  homes— Lee's 
orders  against  destruction  of  private  property— Washington 
threatened— The  battle  of  Monocacy— A  brave  charge— The 
defeat  of  General  Lew  Wallace 300 

xxin  WINCHESTER  AND  PRECEDING  EVENTS 

The  Confederate  army  within  sight  of  Washington— The  city 
could  have  been  taken— Reasons  for  the  retreat— Abandon 
ment  of  plan  to  release  Confederate  prisoners— The  Winchester 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTEK  PAGE 

campaign— Assault  on  Sheridan's  front— Sudden  rally— Re 
treat  of  Early's  army— The  battle  of  Fisher's  Hill 314 

xxw  CEDAR  CREEK— A  VICTORY  AND  A  DEFEAT 

Sheridan's  dallying  for  twenty-six  days— Arrival  of  General 
Kershaw — Position  of  Early's  army  with  reference  to  Sheri 
dan's—The  outlook  from  Massanutten  Mountain— Weakness 
of  Sheridan's  left  revealed— The  plan  of  battle— A  midnight 
march— Complete  surprise  and  rout  of  Sheridan's  army— Early's 
decision  not  to  follow  up  the  victory— Why  Sheridan's  ride 
succeeded— Victory  changed  into  defeat 327 

xxv  THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK 

Analysis  of  the  great  mistake— Marshalling  of  testimony — 
Documentary  proof  of  the  error— Early's  "glory  enough  for 
one  day"  theory — What  eye-witnesses  say— The  defence  of 
the  Confederate  soldier— A  complete  vindication  .  .  .  .  352 

xxvi   THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR 

Frequent  skirmishes  follow  Cedar  Creek— Neither  commander 
anxious  for  a  general  engagement— Desolation  in  the  Valley — 
A  fated  family— Transferred  to  Petersburg— A  gloomy  Christ 
mas — All  troops  on  reduced  rations— Summoned  to  Lee's  head 
quarters—Consideration  of  the  dire  straits  of  the  army— Three 
possible  courses 373 

xxvn  CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN 

In  the  trenches  at  Petersburg— General  Lee's  instructions— A 
daring  plan  formed — Preparations  for  a  night  assault — An  in 
genious  war  ruse— The  fort  captured  with  small  loss— Failure 
of  reinforcements  to  arrive— Loss  of  guides— Necessary  with 
drawal  from  the  fort— The  last  effort  to  break  Grant's  hold  .  395 

xxviii  EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG 

Religious  spirit  of  the  soldiers  in  extremity — Some  amusing 
anecdotes— Fall  of  Five  Forks— Death  of  General  A.  P.  Hill— 
The  line  of  defence  stretched  to  breaking— General  Lee's  order 
to  withdraw  from  Petersburg— Continuous  fighting  during  the 
retreat— Stirring  adventure  of  a  Confederate  scout— His  re 
taliation — Lee  directs  the  movement  toward  Appomattox  .  .  414 

xxix  THE  SURRENDER 

The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  reduced  to  a  skeleton— Gen 
eral  Lee's  calm  bearing— The  last  Confederate  council  of  war 
—Decision  upon  a  final  attempt  to  break  Grant's  lines— The 
last  charge  of  the  war— Union  breastworks  carried— A  fruitless 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTEK  PAGE 

victory— Flag  of  truce  sent  to  General  Ord— Conference  with 
General  Sheridan— An  armistice 429 

xxx  THE  END  OF  THE  WAR 

Appomattox— 25,000  men  surrender— Only  8000  able  to  bear 
arms — Uniform  courtesy  of  the  victorious  Federals— A  salute 
for  the  vanquished— What  Lincoln  might  have  done— General 
Sherman's  liberal  terms  to  Johnston— An  estimate  of  General 
Lee  and  General  Grant— The  war  and  the  reunited  country  .  443 


PORTRAITS 


GENERAL  JOHN  B.  GORDON Frontispiece 

From  a  photograph  taken  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  he  was  thirty-three 
years  of  age. 

Facing  page 
JOHN  B.  GORDON 32 

Drawn  by  George  T.  Tobin  from  a  daguerreotype  taken  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two. 


SENATOR  JOHN  B.  GORDON 320 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1896,  when  he  represented  Georgia  in  the 
United  States  Senate. 


INTRODUCTION 

FOB  many  years  I  have  been  urged  to  place  on 
record  my  reminiscences  of  the  war  between  the 
States.  In  undertaking  the  task  now,  it  is  not  my 
purpose  to  attempt  a  comprehensive  description  of 
that  great  struggle,  nor  an  elaborate  analysis  of 
the  momentous  interests  and  issues  involved.  The 
time  may  not  have  arrived  for  a  full  and  fair  his 
tory  of  that  most  interesting  period  in  the  Repub 
lic's  Me.  The  man  capable  of  writing  it  with 
entire  justice  to  both  sides  is  perhaps  yet  unborn. 
He  may  appear,  however,  at  a  future  day,  fully 
equipped  for  the  great  work.  If  endowed  with  the 
requisite  breadth  and  clearness  of  view,  with  in 
flexible  mental  integrity  and  absolute  freedom  from 
all  bias,  he  will  produce  the  most  instructive  and 
thrilling  record  in  the  world's  deathless  annals,  and 
cannot  fail  to  make  a  contribution  of  measureless 
value  to  the  American  people  and  to  the  cause  of 
free  government  throughout  the  world. 

Conscious  of  my  own  inability  to  meet  the  de 
mands  of  so  great  an  undertaking,  I  have  not  at 
tempted  it,  but  with  an  earnest  desire  to  contribute 


INTRODUCTION 

something  toward  such  future  history  these  remi 
niscences  have  been  written.  I  have  endeavored 
to  make  my  review  of  that  most  heroic  era  so  con 
densed  as  to  claim  the  attention  of  busy  people, 
and  so  impartial  as  to  command  the  confidence  of 
the  fair-minded  in  all  sections.  It  has  been  my 
fixed  purpose  to  make  a  brief  but  dispassionate 
and  judicially  fair  analysis  of  the  divergent  opin 
ions  and  ceaseless  controversies  which  for  half  a 
century  produced  an  ever- widening  alienation  be 
tween  the  sections,  and  which  finally  plunged  into 
the  fiercest  and  bloodiest  of  fratricidal  wars  a 
great  and  enlightened  people  who  were  of  the  same 
race,  supporters  of  the  same  Constitution,  and  joint 
heirs  of  the  same  freedom.  I  have  endeavored  to 
demonstrate  that  the  courage  displayed  and  the 
ratio  of  losses  sustained  were  unprecedented  in 
modern  warfare.  I  have  also  recorded  in  this  vol 
ume  a  large  number  of  those  characteristic  and 
thrilling  incidents  which  illustrate  a  unique  and 
hitherto  unwritten  phase  of  the  war,  the  story  of 
which  should  not  be  lost,  because  it  is  luminous 
with  the  noblest  lessons.  Many  of  these  incidents 
came  under  my  own  observation.  They  marked 
every  step  of  the  war's  progress,  were  often  wit 
nessed  by  both  armies,  and  were  of  almost  daily 
occurrence  in  the  camps,  on  the  marches,  and 
between  the  lines;  increasing  in  frequency  and 
pathos  as  the  war  progressed,  and  illustrating  the 


INTRODUCTION 

distinguishing  magnanimity  and  lofty  manhood  of 
the  American  soldier. 

It  will  be  found,  I  trust,  that  no  injustice  has 
been  done  to  either  section,  to  any  army,  or  to  any 
of  the  great  leaders,  but  that  the  substance  and 
spirit  of  the  following  pages  will  tend  rather  to  lift 
to  a  higher  plane  the  estimate  placed  by  victors 
and  vanquished  upon  their  countrymen  of  the  op 
posing  section,  and  thus  strengthen  the  sentiment 
of  intersectional  fraternity  which  is  essential  to 
complete  national  unity. 

J.  B.  GORDON. 


REMINISCENCES   OF  THE 
CIVIL  WAR 


CHAPTER  I 

MY  FIRST   COMMAND  AND   THE  OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR 

A  company  of  mountaineers— Joe  Brown's  pikes— The  Raccoon  Roughs 
—  The  first  Rebel  yell— A  flag  presented  to  the  company— Arrival  at 
Montgomery,  Alabama— Analysis  of  the  causes  of  the  war— Slavery's 
part  in  it— Liberty  in  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  liberty  in  the  in 
dependence  of  the  States. 

THE  outbreak  of  war  found  me  in  the  mountains  of 
Georgia,  Tennessee,  and  Alabama,  engaged  in  the 
development  of  coal-mines.  This  does  not  mean  that  I 
was  a  citizen  of  three  States ;  but  it  does  mean  that  I 
lived  so  near  the  lines  that  my  mines  were  in  Georgia, 
my  house  in  Alabama,  and  my  post-office  in  Tennessee. 
The  first  company  of  soldiers,  therefore,  with  which  I 
entered  the  service  was  composed  of  stalwart  moun 
taineers  from  the  three  States.  I  had  been  educated 
for  the  bar  and  for  a  time  practised  law  in  Atlanta.  In 
September,  1854,  I  had  married  Miss  Fanny  Haralson, 
third  daughter  of  General  Hugh  A.  Haralson,  of  La 
Grange,  Georgia.  The  wedding  occurred  on  her  seven 
teenth  birthday  and  when  I  was  but  twenty-two.  We 
had  two  children,  both  boys.  The  struggle  between  de 
votion  to  my  family  on  the  one  hand  and  duty  to  my 
country  on  the  other  was  most  trying  to  my  sensibili 
ties.  My  spirit  had  been  caught  up  by  the  flaming  en 
thusiasm  that  swept  like  a  prairie-fire  through  the  land, 
and  I  hastened  to  unite  with  the  brave  men  of  the  moun 
tains  in  organizing  a  company  of  volunteers.  But  what 

3 


4    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

was  I  to  do  with  the  girl- wife  and  the  two  little  boys? 
The  wife  and  mother  was  no  less  taxed  in  her  effort  to 
settle  this  momentous  question e  But  finally  yielding  to 
the  promptings  of  her  own  heart  and  to  her  unerring 
sense  of  duty,  she  ended  doubt  as  to  what  disposition 
was  to  be  made  of  her  by  announcing  that  she  intended 
to  accompany  me  to  the  war,  leaving  her  children  with 
my  mother  and  faithful  "Mammy  Mary."  I  rejoiced  at 
her  decision  then,  and  had  still  greater  reasons  for  re 
joicing  at  it  afterward,  when  I  felt  through  every  fiery 
ordeal  the  inspiration  of  her  near  presence,  and  had,  at 
need,  the  infinite  comfort  of  her  tender  nursing. 

The  mountaineers  did  me  the  honor  to  elect  me  their 
captain.  It  was  the  first  office  I  had  ever  held,  and  I 
verily  believed  it  would  be  the  last ;  for  I  expected  to 
fight  with  these  men  till  the  war  ended  or  until  I  should 
be  killed.  Our  first  decision  was  to  mount  and  go  as 
cavalry.  We  had  not  then  learned,  as  we  did  later,  the 
full  meaning  of  that  war-song,  "  If  you  want  to  have  a 
good  time,  jine  the  cavalry";  but  like  most  Southerners 
we  were  inured  to  horseback,  and  all  preferred  that  great 
arm  of  the  service. 

This  company  of  mounted  men  was  organized  as  soon 
as  a  conflict  seemed  probable  and  prior  to  any  call  for 
volunteers.  They  were  doomed  to  a  disappointment, 
"  No  cavalry  now  needed  "  was  the  laconic  and  stunning 
reply  to  the  offer  of  our  services.  What  was  to  be  done, 
was  the  perplexing  question.  The  proposition  to  wait 
until  mounted  men  were  needed  was  promptly  negatived 
by  the  suggestion  that  we  were  so  far  from  any  point 
where  a  battle  was  likely  to  occur,  and  so  hidden  from 
view  by  the  surrounding  mountains,  that  we  might  be 
forgotten  and  the  war  might  end  before  we  had  a  chance. 

"  Let  us  dismount  and  go  at  once  as  infantry."  This 
proposition  was  carried  with  a  shout  and  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote.  My  own  vote  and  whatever  influence 


THE   OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR  5 

I  possessed  were  given  in  favor  of  the  suggestion,  al 
though  my  desire  for  cavalry  service  had  grown  to  a 
passion.  Accustomed  to  horseback  on  my  father's  plan 
tation  from  my  early  childhood,  and  with  an  untutored 
imagination  picturing  the  wild  sweep  of  my  chargers 
upon  belching  batteries  and  broken  lines  of  infantry,  it 
was  to  me,  as  well  as  to  my  men,  a  sad  descent  from 
dashing  cavalry  to  a  commonplace  company  of  slow, 
plodding  foot-soldiers.  Reluctantly,  therefore,  we  aban 
doned  our  horses,  and  in  order  certainly  to  reach  the 
point  of  action  before  the  war  was  over,  we  resolved  to 
go  at  once  to  the  front  as  infantry,  without  waiting  for 
orders,  arms,  or  uniforms.  Not  a  man  in  the  company 
had  the  slightest  military  training,  and  the  captain  him 
self  knew  very  little  of  military  tactics. 

The  new  government  that  was  to  be  formed  had  no 
standing  army  as  a  nucleus  around  which  the  volunteers 
could  be  brought  into  compact  order,  with  a  centre  of 
disciplined  and  thoroughly  drilled  soldiery;  and  the 
States  which  were  to  form  it  had  but  few  arms,  and  no 
artisans  or  factories  to  supply  them.  The  old-fashioned 
squirrel  rifles  and  double-barrelled  shot-guns  were  called 
into  requisition.  Governor  Joseph  E.  Brown,  of  Georgia, 
put  shops  in  the  State  to  work,  making  what  were  called 
"  Joe  Brown's  pikes."  They  were  a  sort  of  rude  bayo 
net,  or  steel  lance,  fastened,  not  to  guns,  but  to  long 
poles  or  handles,  and  were  to  be  given  to  men  who  had 
no  other  arms.  Of  course,  few  if  any  of  these  pikemen 
ever  had  occasion  to  use  these  warlike  implements,  which 
were  worthy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  those  who  bore 
them  were  as  gallant  knights  as  ever  levelled  a  lance  in 
close  quarters.  I  may  say  that  very  few  bayonets  of 
any  kind  were  actually  used  in  battle,  so  far  as  my  ob 
servation  extended.  The  one  line  or  the  other  usually 
gave  way  under  the  galling  fire  of  small  arms,  grape, 
and  canister,  before  the  bayonet  could  be  brought  into 


6    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

requisition.  The  bristling  points  and  the  glitter  of  the 
bayonets  were  fearful  to  look  upon  as  they  were  levelled 
in  front  of  a  charging  line ;  but  they  were  rarely  red 
dened  with  blood.  The  day  of  the  bayonet  is  passed 
except  for  use  in  hollow  squares,  or  in  resisting  cavalry 
charges,  or  as  an  implement  in  constructing  light  and 
temporary  fortifications.  It  may  still  serve  a  purpose 
in  such  emergencies  or  to  impress  the  soldier's  imagina 
tion,  as  the  loud-sounding  and  ludicrous  gongs  are  sup 
posed  to  stiffen  the  backs  and  steady  the  nerves  of  the 
grotesque  soldiers  of  China.  Of  course,  Georgia's  able 
war  governor  did  not  contemplate  any  very  serious 
execution  with  these  pikes;  but  the  volunteers  came  in 
such  numbers  and  were  so  eager  for  the  fray  that  some 
thing  had  to  be  done ;  and  this  device  served  its  purpose. 
It  at  least  shows  the  desperate  straits  in  securing  arms 
to  which  the  South  was  driven,  even  after  seizing  the 
United  States  arsenals  within  the  Confederate  territory. 
The  irrepressible  humor  and  ready  rustic  wit  which 
afterward  relieved  the  tedium  of  the  march  and  broke 
the  monotony  of  the  camp,  and  which,  like  a  star  in  the 
darkness,  seemed  to  grow  more  brilliant  as  the  gloom  of 
war  grew  denser,  had  already  begun  to  sparkle  in  the 
intercourse  of  the  volunteers.  A  woodsman  who  was 
noted  as  a  "  crack  shot "  among  his  hunting  companions 
felt  sure  that  he  was  going  to  win  fame  as  a  select  rifle 
man  in  the  army ;  for  he  said  that  in  killing  a  squirrel 
he  always  put  the  bullet  through  the  head,  though  the 
squirrel  might  be  perched  at  the  time  on  the  topmost 
limb  of  the  tallest  tree.  An  Irishman  who  had  seen  ser 
vice  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  was  attentively  listening 
to  this  young  hunter's  boast,  fixed  his  twinkling  eye 
upon  the  aspiring  rifleman  and  said  to  him :  "  Yes ;  but 
Dan,  me  boy,  ye  must  ricollict  that  the  squirrel  had  no 
gon  in  his  hand  to  shoot  back  at  ye."  The  young  hunts 
man  had  not  thought  about  that ;  but  he  doubtless  found 


THE   OUTBREAK   OF   THE   WAR  7 

later  on,  as  the  marksmen  of  both  armies  did,  that  it 
made  a  vast  difference  in  the  accuracy  of  aim  when 
those  in  front  not  only  had  "  gons  "  in  their  hands,  but 
were  firing  them  with  distracting  rapidity.  This  rude 
Irish  philosopher  had  explained  in  a  sentence  one  cause 
of  the  wild  and  aimless  firing  which  wasted  more  tons 
of  lead  in  a  battle  than  all  its  dead  victims  would  weigh. 

There  was  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  and  just  pre 
ceding  it  a  class  of  men  both  North  and  South  over 
whose  inconsistencies  the  thoughtful,  self-poised,  and 
determined  men  who  did  the  fighting  made  many  jokes, 
as  the  situation  grew  more  serious.  It  was  that  class  of 
men  in  both  sections  who  were  most  resolute  in  words 
and  most  prudent  in  acts;  who  urged  the  sections  to 
the  conflict  and  then  did  little  to  help  them  out  of  it; 
who,  like  the  impatient  war-horse,  snuffed  the  battle 
from  afar— very  far :  but  who,  when  real  war  began  to 
roll  its  crimson  tide  nearer  and  nearer  to  them,  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  better  for  the  country,  as  well 
as  for  themselves,  to  labor  in  other  spheres ;  and  that  it 
was  their  duty,  as  America's  great  humorist  put  it,  to 
sacrifice  not  themselves  but  their  wives'  relations  on 
patriotism's  altar.  One  of  these  furious  leaders  at  the 
South  declared  that  if  we  would  secede  from  the  Union 
there  would  be  no  war,  and  if  there  should  be  a  war,  we 
could  "whip  the  Yankees  with  children's  pop-guns." 
When,  after  the  war,  this  same  gentleman  was  address 
ing  an  audience,  he  was  asked  by  an  old  maimed  sol 
dier  :  "  Say,  Judge,  ain't  you  the  same  man  that  told  us 
before  the  war  that  we  could  w^hip  the  Yankees  with 
pop-guns ! " 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  witty  speaker,  "  and  we  could,  but, 
confound  'em,  they  would  n't  fight  us  that  way." 

My  company,  dismounted  and  ready  for  infantry  ser 
vice,  did  not  wait  for  orders  to  move,  but  hastily  bid 
ding  adieu  to  home  and  kindred,  were  off  for  Milledge- 


8    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAE 

ville,  then  capital  of  Georgia.  At  Atlanta  a  telegram 
from  the  governor  met  us,  telling  us  to  go  back  home, 
and  stay  there  until  our  services  were  needed.  Our  dis 
comfiture  can  be  better  imagined  than  described.  In 
fact,  there  broke  out  at  once  in  my  ranks  a  new  rebel 
lion.  These  rugged  mountaineers  resolved  that  they 
would  not  go  home ;  that  they  had  a  right  to  go  to  the 
war,  had  started  to  the  war,  and  were  not  going  to  be 
trifled  with  by  the  governor  or  any  one  else.  Finally, 
after  much  persuasion,  and  by  the  cautious  exercise  of 
the  authority  vested  in  me  by  my  office  of  captain,  I 
prevailed  on  them  to  get  on  board  the  home-bound 
train.  As  the  engine-bell  rang  and  the  whistle  blew  for 
the  train  to  start,  the  rebellion  broke  loose  again  with 
double  fury.  The  men  rushed  to  the  front  of  the  train, 
uncoupled  the  cars  from  the  engine,  and  gravely  in 
formed  me  that  they  had  reconsidered  and  were  not 
going  back;  that  they  intended  to  go  to  the  war,  and 
that  if  Governor  Brown  would  not  accept  them,  some 
other  governor  would.  Prophetic  of  future  dash  as  this 
wild  impetuosity  might  be,  it  did  not  give  much  promise 
of  soldierly  discipline ;  but  I  knew  my  men  and  did  not 
despair.  I  was  satisfied  that  the  metal  in  them  was  the 
best  of  steel  and  only  needed  careful  tempering. 

They  disembarked  and  left  the  empty  cars  on  the 
track,  with  the  trainmen  looking  on  in  utter  amazement. 
There  was  no  course  left  me  but  to  march  them  through 
the  streets  of  Atlanta  to  a  camp  on  the  outskirts.  The 
march,  or  rather  straggle,  through  that  city  was  a  sight 
marvellous  to  behold  and  never  to  be  forgotten.  Totally 
undisciplined  and  undrilled,  no  two  of  these  men  marched 
abreast ;  no  two  kept  the  same  step ;  no  two  wore  the 
same  colored  coats  or  trousers.  The  only  pretence  at 
uniformity  was  the  rough  fur  caps  made  of  raccoon 
skins,  with  long,  bushy,  streaked  raccoon  tails  hanging 
from  behind  them.  The  streets  were  packed  with  men, 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF  THE    WAR  9 

women,  and  children,  eager  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  this 
grotesque  company.  Naturally  we  were  the  observed  of 
all  observers.  Curiosity  was  on  tip-toe,  and  from  the 
crowded  sidewalks  there  came  to  me  the  inquiry,  "  Are 
you  the  captain  of  that  company,  sir ! "  With  a  pride 
which  I  trust  was  pardonable,  I  indicated  that  I  was. 
In  a  moment  there  came  to  me  the  second  inquiry, 
"What  company  is  that,  sir?"  Up  to  this  time  no  name 
had  been  chosen— at  least,  none  had  been  announced  to 
the  men.  I  had  myself,  however,  selected  a  name  which 
I  considered  both  poetic  arid  appropriate,  and  I  replied 
to  the  question,  "  This  company  is  the  Mountain  Rifles." 
Instantly  a  tall  mountaineer  said  in  a  tone  not  intended 
for  his  captain,  but  easily  overheard  by  his  companions 
and  the  bystanders :  "  Mountain  hell !  we  are  no  Moun 
tain  Rifles ;  we  are  the  Raccoon  Roughs."  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  say  that  my  selected  name  was  never  heard 
of  again.  This  towering  Ajax  had  killed  it  by  a  single 
blow.  The  name  he  gave  us  clung  to  the  company 
during  all  of  its  long  and  faithful  service. 

Once  in  camp,  we  kept  the  wires  hot  with  telegrams 
to  governors  of  other  States,  imploring  them  to  give  us 
a  chance.  Governor  Moore,  of  Alabama,  finally  re 
sponded,  graciously  consenting  to  incorporate  the  cap 
tain  of  the  "  Raccoon  Roughs "  and  his  coon-capped 
company  into  one  of  the  regiments  soon  to  be  organized. 
The  reading  of  this  telegram  evoked  from  my  men  the 
first  wild  Rebel  yell  it  was  my  fortune  to  hear.  Even 
then  it  was  weird  and  thrilling.  Through  all  the  stages 
of  my  subsequent  promotions,  in  all  the  battles  in  which 
I  was  engaged,  this  same  exhilarating  shout  from  these 
same  trumpet-like  throats  rang  in  my  ears,  growing 
fainter  and  fainter  as  these  heroic  men  became  fewer 
and  fewer  at  the  end  of  each  bloody  day's  work ;  and 
when  the  last  hour  of  the  war  came,  in  the  last  desperate 
charge  at  Appomattox,  the  few  and  broken  remnants  of 


10    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

the  Raccoon  Roughs  were  still  near  their  first  captain's 
side,  cheering  him  with  the  dying  echoes  of  that  first 
yell  in  the  Atlanta  camp. 

Alabama's  governor  had  given  us  the  coveted  "  chance," 
and  with  bounding  hearts  we  joined  the  host  of  volunteers 
then  rushing  to  Montgomery.  The  line  of  our  travel 
was  one  unbroken  scene  of  enthusiasm.  Bonfires  blazed 
from  the  hills  at  night,  and  torch-light  processions,  with 
drums  and  fifes,  paraded  the  streets  of  the  towns.  In 
the  absence  of  real  cannon,  blacksmiths'  anvils  were 
made  to  thunder  our  welcome.  Vast  throngs  gathered 
at  the  depots,  filling  the  air  with  their  shoutings,  and 
bearing  banners  with  all  conceivable  devices,  proclaim 
ing  Southern  independence,  and  pledging  the  last  dollar 
and  man  for  the  success  of  the  cause.  Staid  matrons 
and  gayly  bedecked  maidens  rushed  upon  the  cars, 
pinned  upon  our  lapels  the  blue  cockades,  and  cheered 
us  by  chanting  in  thrilling  chorus : 

In  Dixie-land  I  take  my  stand 
To  live  and  die  in  Dixie. 

At  other  points  they  sang  "  The  Bonnie  Blue  Flag,"  and 
the  Raccoon  Roughs,  as  they  were  thenceforward  known, 
joined  in  the  transporting  chorus : 

Hurrah,  hurrah,  for  Southern  rights  hurrah ! 

Hurrah  for  the  Bonnie  Blue  Flag  that  bears  a  single  star ! 

The  Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  who  had  been 
Speaker  of  the  National  House  of  Representatives,  and 
United  States  senator,  and  who  afterward  became  the 
Confederate  Secretary  of  State  and  one  of  the  Hampton 
Roads  commissioners  to  meet  President  Lincoln  and  the 
Federal  representatives,  was  travelling  upon  the  same 
train  that  carried  my  company  to  Montgomery.  This 
famous  and  venerable  statesman,  on  his  way  to  Alabama's 
capital  to  aid  in  organizing  the  new  Government,  made, 


THE   OUTBREAK  OF  THE   WAR         11 

in  answer  to  the  popular  demand,  a  number  of  speeches 
at  the  different  stations.  His  remarks  on  these  occa 
sions  were  usually  explanatory  of  the  South's  attitude  in 
the  threatened  conflict.  They  were  concise,  clear,  and 
forcible.  The  people  did  not  need  argument ;  but  they 
applauded  his  every  utterance,  as  he  carefully  described 
the  South's  position  as  one  not  of  aggression  but  purely 
of  defence ;  discussed  the  doctrine  promulgated  in  the 
Declaration  of  the  Fathers,  that  all  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed ;  as 
serted  the  sovereignty  of  the  States,  and  their  right  to 
peaceably  assume  that  sovereignty,  as  evidenced  by  the 
declaration  of  New  York,  Rhode  Island,  and  Virginia 
when  they  entered  the  Union ;  explained  the  protection 
given  the  South's  peculiar  property  by  the  plain  provi 
sions  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws ;  urged  the  neces 
sity  of  separation  both  for  Southern  security  and  the 
permanent  peace  of  the  sections;  and  closed  with  the 
declaration  that,  while  there  was  no  trace  of  authority 
in  the  Constitution  for  the  invasion  and  coercion  of  a 
sovereign  State,  yet  it  was  the  part  of  prudence  and  of 
patriotism  to  prepare  for  defence  in  case  of  necessity. 

Although  I  was  a  young  man,  yet,  as  the  only  captain 
on  board,  it  fell  to  my  lot  also  to  respond  to  frequent 
calls.  In  the  midst  of  this  wild  excitement  and  bound 
less  enthusiasm,  I  was  induced  to  make  some  promises 
which  I  afterward  found  inconvenient  and  even  impos 
sible  to  fulfil.  A  flag  was  presented  bearing  a  most  em 
barrassing  motto.  That  motto  consisted  of  two  words : 
"  No  Retreat."  I  was  compelled  to  accept  it.  There  was, 
indeed,  no  retreat  for  me  then;  and  in  my  speech  ac 
cepting  the  flag  I  assured  the  fair  donors  that  those 
coon-capped  boys  would  make  that  motto  ring  with  their 
cracking  rifles  on  every  battle-field;  and  in  the  ardor 
and  inexperience  of  my  young  manhood,  I  related  to 
these  ladies  and  to  the  crowds  at  the  depot  the  story  of 


12    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

the  little  drummer-boy  of  Switzerland  who,  when  cap 
tured  and  ordered  to  beat  upon  his  drum  a  retreat, 
proudly  replied,  "  Switzerland  knows  no  such  music !  " 
Gathering  additional  inspiration  from  the  shouts  and 
applause  which  the  story  evoked,  I  exclaimed,  "And 
these  brave  mountaineers  and  the  young  Confederacy, 
like  glorious  little  Switzerland,  will  never  know  a  re 
treat  ! "  My  men  applauded  and  sanctioned  this  out 
burst  of  inconsiderate  enthusiasm,  but  we  learned  better 
after  a  while.  A  little  sober  experience  vastly  modified 
and  assuaged  our  youthful  impetuosity.  War  is  a  won 
derful  developer,  as  well  as  destroyer,  of  men ;  and  our 
four  years  of  tuition  in  it  equalled  in  both  these  par 
ticulars  at  least  forty  years  of  ordinary  schooling.  The 
first  battle  carried  us  through  the  rudimentary  course 
of  a  military  education ;  and  several  months  before  the 
four  years'  course  was  ended,  the  thoughtful  ones  began 
to  realize  that  though  the  expense  account  had  been 
great,  it  had  at  least  reasonably  well  prepared  us  for 
final  graduation,  and  for  receiving  the  brief  little  diploma 
handed  to  us  at  Appomattox. 

If  any  apology  be  needed  for  my  pledge  to  the  patri 
otic  women  who  presented  the  little  flag  with  the  big 
motto,  "No  Retreat,"  it  must  be  found  in  the  depth  of 
the  conviction  that  our  cause  was  just.  From  great 
leaders  and  constitutional  expounders,  from  schools  and 
colleges,  from  debates  in  Congress,  in  the  convention 
that  adopted  the  Constitution,  and  from  discussions  on 
the  hustings,  we  had  learned  the  lesson  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States.  We  had  imbibed  these  political  principles 
from  our  childhood.  We  were,  therefore,  prepared  to 
defend  them,  ready  to  die  for  them,  and  it  was  impos 
sible  at  the  beginning  for  us  to  believe  that  they  would 
be  seriously  and  forcibly  assailed. 

But  I  must  return  to  our  trip  to  Montgomery.  We 
reached  that  city  at  night  to  find  it  in  a  hubbub  over 


THE   OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR         13 

the  arrival  of  enthusiastic,  shouting  volunteers.  The 
hotels  and  homes  were  crowded  with  visiting  statesmen 
and  private  citizens,  gathered  by  a  common  impulse 
around  the  cradle  of  the  new-born  Confederacy.  There 
was  a  determined  look  on  every  face,  a  fervid  prayer  on 
every  lip,  and  a  bounding  hope  in  every  heart.  There 
was  the  rumbling  of  wagons  distributing  arms  and  ammu 
nition  at  every  camp,  and  the  tramping  of  freshly  enlisted 
men  on  every  street.  There  was  a  roar  of  cannon  on 
the  hills  and  around  the  Capitol  booming  welcome  to 
the  incoming  patriots ;  and  all  nature  seemed  palpitating 
in  sympathy  with  the  intensity  of  popular  excitement. 
It  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  Raccoon  Roughs  to  be  assigned 
to  the  Sixth  Alabama  Regiment,  and,  contrary  to  my 
wishes  and  most  unexpectedly  to  me,  I  was  unanimously 
elected  major. 

When  my  company  of  mountaineers  reached  Mont 
gomery,  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  "Confed 
erate  States  of  America"  had  been  organized.  At  first 
it  was  composed  only  of  six  States:  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana. 
The  States  of  Texas,  Virginia,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  and 
North  Carolina  were  admitted  into  the  Southern  Union 
in  the  order,  I  believe,  in  which  I  have  named  them. 
Thus  was  launched  the  New  Republic,  with  only  eleven 
stars  on  its  banner;  but  it  took  as  its  chart  the  same 
old  American  Constitution,  or  one  so  nearly  like  it  that 
it  contained  the  same  limitations  upon  Federal  power, 
the  same  guarantees  of  the  rights  of  the  States,  the 
same  muniments  of  public  and  personal  liberty. 

The  historian  of  the  future,  who  attempts  to  chronicle 
the  events  of  this  period  and  analyze  the  thoughts  and 
purposes  of  the  people,  will  find  far  greater  unanimity 
at  the  South  than  at  the  North.  This  division  at  the 
North  did  not  last  long;  but  it  existed  in  a  marked  de 
gree  for  some  time  after  the  secession  movement  began 


14    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

and  after  twenty  or  more  United  States  forts,  arsenals, 
and  barracks  had  been  seized  by  State  authorities,  and 
even  after  the  steamer  Star  of  the  West  had  been  fired 
upon  by  State  troops  and  driven  back  from  the  entrance 
of  Charleston  Harbor. 

At  the  South,  the  action  of  each  State  in  with 
drawing  from  the  Union  was  the  end,  practically,  of  all 
division  within  the  borders  of  such  State;  and  the 
roar  of  the  opening  battle  at  Fort  Sumter  in  South 
Carolina  was  the  signal  for  practical  unanimity  at  the 
North. 

Prior  to  actual  secession  there  was  even  at  the  South 
more  or  less  division  of  sentiment— not  as  to  principle, 
but  as  to  policy.  Scarcely  a  man  could  be  found  in  all 
the  Southern  States  who  doubted  the  constitutional  right 
of  a  State  to  withdraw  from  the  Union ;  but  many  of 
its  foremost  men  thought  that  such  movement  was  ill- 
advised  or  should  be  delayed.  Among  these  were  Robert 
E.  Lee,  who  became  the  commander-in-chief  of  all  the 
Confederate  armies ;  Alexander  Hamilton  Stephens,  who 
became  the  Confederate  Vice-President ;  Benjamin  H. 
Hill,  who  was  a  Confederate  senator  and  one  of  the  Con 
federate  administration's  most  ardent  and  perhaps  its 
most  eloquent  supporter ;  and  even  Jefferson  Davis  him 
self  is  said  to  have  shed  tears  when,  at  his  seat  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  he  received  the  telegram  announ 
cing  that  Mississippi  had  actually  passed  the  ordinance 
of  secession.  The  speech  of  Mr.  Davis  on  taking  leave 
of  the  Senate  shows  his  loyal  devotion  to  the  Republic's 
flag,  for  which  he  had  shed  his  blood  in  Mexico.  In  pro 
foundly  sincere  and  pathetic,  words  he  thus  alludes  to 
his  unfeigned  sorrow  at  the  thought  of  parting  with  the 
Stars  and  Stripes.  He  said :  "  I  shall  be  pardoned  if  I 
here  express  the  deep  sorrow  which  always  overwhelms 
me  when  I  think  of  taking  a  last  leave  of  that  object  of 
early  affection  and  proud  association,  feeling  that  hence- 


THE  OUTBREAK  OF   THE   WAR         15 

forth  it  is  not  to  be  the  banner  which  by  day  and  by 
night  I  am  ready  to  follow,  to  hail  with  the  rising  and 
bless  with  the  setting  sun." 

He  agreed,  however,  with  an  overwhelming  majority 
of  the  Southern  people,  in  the  opinion  that  both  honor 
and  security,  as  well  as  permanent  peace,  demanded  sep 
aration.  Referring  to  the  denial  of  the  right  of  Southern 
ers  to  carry  their  property  in  slaves  into  the  common 
Territories,  he  said :  "  Your  votes  refuse  to  recognize  our 
domestic  institutions,  which  preexisted  the  formation 
of  the  Union— our  property,  which  was  guarded  by  the 
Constitution.  You  refuse  us  that  equality  without  which 
we  should  be  degraded  if  we  remained  in  the  Union.  .  .  . 
Is  there  a  senator  on  the  other  side  who,  to-day,  will 
agree  that  we  shall  have  equal  enjoyment  of  the  Terri 
tories  of  the  United  States  !  Is  there  one  who  will  deny 
that  we  have  equally  paid  in  their  purchases  and  equally 
bled  in  their  acquisition  in  war !  .  .  .  Whose  is  the  fault, 
then,  if  the  Union  be  dissolved  1  ...  If  you  desire,  at  this 
last  moment,  to  avert  civil  war,  so  be  it ;  it  is  better  so. 
If  you  will  but  allow  us  to  separate  from  you  peaceably, 
since  we  cannot  live  peaceably  together,  to  leave  with 
the  rights  we  had  before  we  were  united,  since  we  cannot 
enjoy  them  in  the  Union,  then  there  are  many  relations, 
drawn  from  the  associations  of  our  (common)  struggles 
from  the  Revolutionary  period  to  the  present  day,  which 
may  be  beneficial  to  you  as  well  as  to  us." 

Abraham  Lincoln,  on  the  other  hand,  the  newly  elected 
President,  was  deeply  imbued  with  the  conviction  that 
the  future  welfare  of  the  Republic  demanded  that  slavery 
should  be  prohibited  forever  in  all  the  Territories.  In 
deed,  upon  such  platform  he  had  been  nominated  and 
elected.  He,  therefore,  urged  his  friends  not  to  yield  on 
this  point.  His  language  was :  "  On  the  territorial  ques 
tion—that  is,  the  question  of  extending  slavery  under^ 
national  auspices— I  am  inflexible.  I  am  for  no  compro- 


16    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

mise  which  assists  or  permits  the  extension  of  the  insti 
tution  on  soil  owned  by  the  Nation."  * 

Thus  these  two  great  leaders  of  antagonistic  sectional 
thought  were  pitted  against  each  other  before  they  had 
actually  taken  in  hand  the  reins  of  hostile  governments. 
The  South  in  her  marvellous  fecundity  had  given  birth 
to  both  these  illustrious  Americans.  Both  were  of 
Southern  lineage  and  born  under  Southern  skies.  In 
deed,  they  were  born  within  a  few  months  and  miles  of 
each  other,  and  nurtured  by  Kentucky  as  their  common 
mother.  But  they  were  destined  in  God's  mysterious 
providence  to  find  homes  in  different  sections,  to  grow 
up  under  different  institutions,  to  imbibe  in  youth  and 
early  manhood  opposing  theories  of  constitutional  con 
struction,  to  become  the  most  conspicuous  representa 
tives  of  conflicting  civilizations,  and  the  respective 
Presidents  of  contending  republics. 

After  long,  arduous,  and  distinguished  services  to 
their  country  and  to  liberty,  both  of  these  great  sons  of 
the  South  were  doomed  to  end  their  brilliant  careers  in 
a  manner  shocking  to  the  sentiment  of  enlightened 
Christendom.  The  one  was  to  die  disfranchised  by  the 
Government  he  had  long  and  faithfully  served  and  for 
the  triumph  of  whose  flag  he  had  repeatedly  pledged  his 
life.  The  other  was  to  meet  his  death  by  an  assassin's 
bullet,  at  a  period  when  his  life,  more  than  that  of  any 
other  man,  seemed  essential  to  the  speedy  pacification 
of  his  country. 

As  stated,  there  was  less  division  of  sentiment  in 
the  South  at  this  period  than  at  the  North.  It  is  a 
great  mistake  to  suppose,  as  was  believed  by  Northern 
people,  that  Southern  politicians  were  "  dragooning  the 
masses,"  or  beguiling  them  into  secession.  The  literal 
truth  is  that  the  people  were  leading  the  leaders.  The 
rush  of  volunteers  was  so  great  when  we  reached  Mont- 

*  Letter  to  Seward,  February  1. 


THE   OUTBEEAK  OF   THE   WAR          17 

gomery  that  my  company,  the  Eaccoon  Eoughs,  felt 
that  they  were  the  favorites  of  fortune  when  they  found 
the  company  enrolled  among  the  "  accepted."  Hon.  L. 
P.  Walker,  of  Alabama,  the  first  Secretary  of  War,  was 
literally  overwhelmed  by  the  vast  numbers  wishing  to 
enlist.  The  applicants  in  companies  and  regiments 
fatigued  and  bewildered  him.  The  pressure  was  so  great 
during  his  office  hours  that  comparatively  few  of  those 
who  sought  places  in  the  fighting  line  could  reach  him. 
With  a  military  ardor  and  patriotic  enthusiasm  rarely 
equalled  in  any  age,  the  volunteers  actually  waylaid  the 
War  Secretary  on  the  streets  to  urge  him  to  accept  at 
once  their  services.  He  stated  that  he  found  it  neces 
sary,  when  leaving  his  office  for  his  hotel,  to  go  by  some 
unfrequented  way,  to  avoid  the  persistent  appeals  of 
those  who  had  commands  ready  to  take  the  field.  Be 
fore  the  Confederate  Government  left  Montgomery  for 
Eichmond,  about  360,000  men  and  boys,  representing  the 
best  of  Southern  manhood,  had  offered  their  services, 
and  were  ready  to  pledge  their  fortunes  and  their  lives  to 
the  cause  of  Southern  independence.  What  was  the 
meaning  of  this  unparalleled  spontaneity  that  pervaded 
all  classes  of  the  Southern  people  1  The  only  answer  is 
that  it  was  the  impulse  of  self-defence.  One  case  will 
illustrate  this  unsolicited  outburst  of  martial  enthusiasm ; 
this  excess  of  patriotism  above  the  supposed  exigencies 
of  the  hour ;  this  vast  surplus  of  volunteers,  beyond  the 
power  of  the  new  Government  to  arm.  Mr.  W.  C.  Hey- 
ward,  of  South  Carolina,  was  a  gentleman  of  fortune  and 
a  West  Pointer,  graduating  in  the  same  class  with  Presi 
dent  Davis.  As  soon  as  the  Confederate  Government 
was  organized,  Mr.  Heyward  went  to  Montgomery  in 
person  to  tender  his  services  with  an  entire  regiment. 
He  was  unable  for  some  time  to  obtain  even  an  interview 
on  the  subject,  and  utterly  failed  to  secure  an  acceptance 
of  himself  or  his  regiment.  Eeturning  to  his  home  dis- 


18    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

appointed,  this  wealthy,  thoroughly  educated,  and  trained 
military  man  joined  the  Home  Guards,  and  died  doing 
duty  as  a  private  in  the  ranks. 

I  know  of  nothing  in  all  history  that  more  brilliantly 
illustrates  the  lofty  spirit,  the  high  and  holy  impulse  that 
sways  a  people  aroused  by  the  sentiment  of  self-defence, 
than  this  spontaneous  uprising  of  Southern  youth  and 
manhood;  than  this  readiness  to  stand  for  inherited 
convictions  and  constitutional  rights,  as  they  under 
stood  them ;  than  the  marvellous  unanimity  with  which 
they  rushed  to  the  front  with  old  flint  and  steel  mus 
kets,  loDg-barrelled  squirrel  rifles,  and  double-barrelled 
shot-guns,  in  defence  of  their  soil,  their  States,  their 
homes,  and,  as  they  verily  believed,  in  defence  of  im 
perilled  liberty. 

There  is  no  book  in  existence,  I  believe,  in  which  the 
ordinary  reader  can  find  an  analysis  of  the  issues  between 
the  two  sections,  which  fairly  represents  both  the  North 
and  the  South.  Although  it  would  require  volumes  to 
contain  the  great  arguments,  I  shall  attempt  here  to  give 
a  brief  summary  of  the  causes  of  our  sectional  contro 
versy,  and  it  will  be  my  purpose  to  state  the  cases  of  the 
two  sections  so  impartially  that  just-minded  people  on 
both  sides  will  admit  the  statement  to  be  judicially  fair. 

The  causes  of  the  war  will  be  found  at  the  foundation 
of  our  political  fabric,  in  our  complex  organism,  in  the 
fundamental  law,  in  the  Constitution  itself,  in  the  con 
flicting  constructions  which  it  invited,  and  in  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  which  it  recognized  and  was  intended  to 
protect.  If  asked  what  was  the  real  issue  involved  in 
our  unparalleled  conflict,  the  average  American  citizen 
will  reply,  "The  negro";  and  it  is  fair  to  say  that  had 
there  been  no  slavery  there  would  have  been  no  war. 
But  there  would  have  been  no  slavery  if  the  South's 
protests  could  have  availed  when  it  was  first  introduced ; 
and  now  that  it  is  gone,  although  its  sudden  and  violent 


THE    OUTBREAK  OF   THE  WAR          19 

abolition  entailed  upon  the  South  directly  and  incident 
ally  a  series  of  woes  which  no  pen  can  describe,  yet  it  is 
true  that  in  no  section  would  its  reestablishment  be 
more  strongly  and  universally  resisted.  The  South 
steadfastly  maintains  that  responsibility  for  the  presence 
of  this  political  Pandora's  box  in  this  Western  world 
cannot  be  laid  at  her  door.  When  the  Constitution  was 
adopted  and  the  Union  formed,  slavery  existed  in  prac 
tically  all  the  States ;  and  it  is  claimed  by  the  Southern 
people  that  its  disappearance  from  the  Northern  and  its 
development  in  the  Southern  States  is  due  to  climatic 
conditions  and  industrial  exigencies  rather  than  to  the 
existence  or  absence  of  great  moral  ideas. 

Slavery  was  undoubtedly  the  immediate  fomenting 
cause  of  the  woful  American  conflict.  It  was  the  great 
political  factor  around  which  the  passions  of  the  sections 
had  long  been  gathered— the  tallest  pine  in  the  political 
forest  around  whose  top  the  fiercest  lightnings  were  to 
blaze  and  whose  trunk  was  destined  to  be  shivered  in 
the  earthquake  shocks  of  war.  But  slavery  was  far  from 
being  the  sole  cause  of  the  prolonged  conflict.  Neither 
its  destruction  on  the  one  hand,  nor  its  defence  on  the 
other,  was  the  energizing  force  that  held  the  contending 
armies  to  four  years  of  bloody  work.  I  apprehend  that 
if  all  living  Union  soldiers  were  summoned  to  the  wit 
ness-stand,  every  one  of  them  would  testify  that  it  was 
the  preservation  of  the  American  Union  and  not  the  de 
struction  of  Southern  slavery  that  induced  him  to  vol 
unteer  at  the  call  of  his  country.  As  for  the  South,  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  perhaps  eighty  per  cent,  of  her  armies 
were  neither  slave-holders,  nor  had  the  remotest  interest 
in  the  institution.  No  other  proof,  however,  is  needed 
than  the  undeniable  fact  that  at  any  period  of  the  war 
from  its  beginning  to  near  its  close  the  South  could  have 
saved  slavery  by  simply  laying  down  its  arms  and  re 
turning  to  the  Union. 


20    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

We  must,  therefore,  look  beyond  the  institution  of 
slavery  for  the  fundamental  issues  which  dominated  and 
inspired  all  classes  of  the  contending  sections.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  find  them.  The  "  Old  Man  Eloquent,"  William 
E.  Gladstone,  who  was  perhaps  England's  foremost  states 
man  of  the  century,  believed  that  the  Government  formed 
by  our  fathers  was  the  noblest  political  fabric  ever  de 
vised  by  the  brain  of  man.  This  undoubtedly  is  true ; 
and  yet  before  these  inspired  builders  were  dead,  contro 
versy  arose  as  to  the  nature  and  powers  of  their  free 
constitutional  government.  Indeed,  in  the  very  conven 
tion  that  framed  the  Constitution  the  clashing  theories 
and  bristling  arguments  of  1787  presaged  the  glistening 
bayonets  of  1861.  In  the  cabinet  of  the  first  President, 
the  contests  between  Hamilton  and  Jefferson,  represen 
tatives  of  conflicting  constitutional  constructions,  were 
so  persistent  and  fierce  as  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  ex 
ecutive  councils  and  tax  the  patience  of  Washington. 
The  disciples  of  each  of  these  political  prophets  numbered 
in  their  respective  ranks  the  greatest  statesmen  and 
purest  patriots.  The  followers  of  each  continuously 
battled  for  these  conflicting  theories  with  a  power  and 
earnestness  worthy  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic. 
Generation  after  generation,  in  Congress,  on  the  hust 
ings,  and  through  the  press,  these  irreconcilable  doc 
trines  were  urged  by  constitutional  expounders,  until 
their  arguments  became  ingrained  into  the  very  fibre  of 
the  brain  and  conscience  of  the  sections.  The  long  war 
of  words  between  the  leaders  waxed  at  last  into  a  war  of 
guns  between  their  followers. 

During  the  entire  life  of  the  Republic  the  respective 
rights  and  powers  of  the  States  and  general  government 
had  furnished  a  question  for  endless  controversy.  In 
process  of  time  this  controversy  assumed  a  somewhat 
sectional  phase.  The  dominating  thought  of  the  North 
and  of  the  South  may  be  summarized  in  a  few  sentences. 


THE   OUTBREAK   OF   THE   WAR          21 

The  South  maintained  with  the  depth  of  religious  con 
viction  that  the  Union  formed  under  the  Constitution 
was  a  Union  of  consent  and  not  of  force ;  that  the  orig 
inal  States  were  not  the  creatures  but  the  creators  of  the 
Union;  that  these  States  had  gained  their  indepen 
dence,  their  freedom,  and  their  sovereignty  from  the 
mother  country,  and  had  not  surrendered  these  on 
entering  the  Union ;  that  by  the  express  terms  of  the 
Constitution  all  rights  and  powers  not  delegated  were 
reserved  to  the  States;  and  the  South  challenged  the 
North  to  find  one  trace  of  authority  in  that  Constitution 
for  invading  and  coercing  a  sovereign  State. 

The  North,  on  the  other  hand,  maintained  with  the 
utmost  confidence  in  the  correctness  of  her  position  that 
the  Union  formed  under  the  Constitution  was  intended 
to  be  perpetual ;  that  sovereignty  was  a  unit  and  could 
not  be  divided;  that  whether  or  not  there  was  any 
express  power  granted  in  the  Constitution  for  invading  a 
State,  the  right  of  self-preservation  was  inherent  in  all 
governments;  that  the  life  of  the  Union  was  essential 
to  the  life  of  liberty ;  or,  in  the  words  of  Webster,  "  lib 
erty  and  union  are  one  and  inseparable." 

To  the  charge  of  the  North  that  secession  was  rebel 
lion  and  treason,  the  South  replied  that  the  epithets  of 
rebel  and  traitor  did  not  deter  her  from  the  assertion  of 
her  independence,  since  these  same  epithets  had  been 
familiar  to  the  ears  of  Washington  and  Hancock  and 
Adams  and  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee.  In  vindication  of 
her  right  to  secede,  she  appealed  to  the  essential  doc 
trine,  "  the  right  to  govern  rests  on  the  consent  of  the 
governed,"  and  to  the  right  of  independent  action  as 
among  those  reserved  by  the  States.  The  South  ap 
pealed  to  the  acts  and  opinions  of  the  Fathers  and  to 
the  report  of  the  Hartford  Convention  of  New  England 
States  asserting  the  power  of  each  State  to  decide  as  to 
the  remedy  for  infraction  of  its  rights ;  to  the  petitions 


22   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

presented  and  positions  assumed  by  ex-President  John 
Quincy  Adams ;  to  the  contemporaneous  declaration  of 
the  8th  of  January  assemblage  in  Ohio  indicating  that 
200,000  Democrats  in  that  State  alone  were  ready  to 
stand  guard  on  the  banks  of  the  border  river  and  resist 
invasion  of  Southern  territory;  and  to  the  repeated 
declarations  of  Horace  Greeley  and  the  admission  of 
President  Lincoln  himself  that  there  was  difficulty  on 
the  question  of  force,  since  ours  ought  to  be  a  fraternal 
Government. 

In  answer  to  all  these  points,  the  North  also  cited  the 
acts  and  opinions  of  the  same  Fathers,  and  urged  that 
the  purpose  of  those  Fathers  was  to  make  a  more  per 
fect  Union  and  a  stronger  government.  The  North  off 
set  the  opinions  of  Greeley  and  others  by  the  emphatic 
declaration  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  foremost  of  West 
ern  Democrats,  and  by  the  official  opinion  as  to  the 
power  of  the  Government  to  collect  revenues  and  enforce 
laws,  given  to  President  Buchanan  by  Jere  Black,  the 
able  Democratic  Attorney-General. 

Thus  the  opposing  arguments  drawn  from  current 
opinions  and  from  the  actions  and  opinions  of  the 
Fathers  were  piled  mountain  high  on  both  sides.  Thus 
the  mighty  athletes  of  debate  wrestled  in  the  political 
arena,  each  profoundly  convinced  of  the  righteousness 
of  his  position ;  hurling  at  each  other  their  ponderous 
arguments,  which  reverberated  like  angry  thunderbolts 
through  legislative  halls,  until  the  whole  political  atmos 
phere  resounded  with  the  tumult.  Long  before  a  single 
gun  was  fired  public  sentiment  North  and  South  had 
been  lashed  into  a  foaming  sea  of  passion ;  and  every 
timber  in  the  framework  of  the  Government  was  bend 
ing  and  ready  to  break  from  "the  heaving  ground-swell 
of  the  tremendous  agitation."  Gradually  and  naturally 
in  this  furnace  of  sectional  debate,  sectional  ballots  were 
crystallized  into  sectional  bullets ;  and  both  sides  came 


THE    OUTBREAK  OF  THE   WAR         23 

at  last  to  the  position  formerly  held  by  the  great  Troup 
of  Georgia :  "  The  argument  is  exhausted ;  we  stand  to 
our  guns." 

I  submit  that  this  brief  and  incomplete  summary  is 
sufficient  to  satisfy  those  who  live  after  us  that  these 
great  leaders  of  conflicting  thought,  and  their  followers 
who  continued  the  debate  in  battle  and  blood,  while  in 
some  sense  partisans,  were  in  a  far  juster  sense  patriots. 

The  opinions  of  Lee  and  Grant,  from  each  of  whom  I 
briefly  quote,  will  illustrate  in  a  measure  the  convictions 
of  their  armies.  Every  Confederate  appreciates  the 
magnanimity  exhibited  by  General  Grant  at  Appomat- 
tox ;  and  it  has  been  my  pleasure  for  nearly  forty  years 
to  speak  in  public  and  private  of  his  great  qualities.  In 
his  personal  memoirs,  General  Grant  has  left  on  record 
his  estimate  of  the  Southern  cause.  This  estimate  repre 
sents  a  strong  phase  of  Northern  sentiment,  but  it  is  a 
sentiment  which  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  a  Southern 
man  to  comprehend.  In  speaking  of  his  feelings  as  "sad 
and  depressed,"  as  he  rode  to  meet  General  Lee  and 
receive  the  surrender  of  the  Southern  armies  at  Appo- 
mattox,  General  Grant  says :  "  I  felt  like  anything  rather 
than  rejoicing  at  the  downfall  of  a  foe  who  had  fought 
so  long  and  valiantly,  and  who  had  suffered  so  much  for 
a  cause,  though  that  cause  was,  I  believe,  one  of  the  ivorst 
for  which  a  people  ever  fought,  and  one  for  which  there  was 
the  least  excuse."  He  adds :  "  I  do  not  question,  however, 
the  sincerity  of  the  great  mass  of  those  who  were 
opposed  to  us." 

The  words  above  quoted,  showing  General  Grant's 
opinion  of  the  Southern  cause,  are  italicized  by  me  and 
not  by  him.  My  object  in  emphasizing  them  is  to  invite 
special  attention  to  their  marked  contrast  with  the 
opinions  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee  as  to  that  same 
Southern  cause.  This  peerless  Confederate  soldier  and 
representative  American,  than  whom  no  age  or  country 


24    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

ever  produced  a  loftier  spirit  or  more  clear- sighted, 
conscientious  Christian  gentleman,  in  referring,  two  days 
before  the  surrender,  to  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  our 
cause,  used  these  immortal  words:  "  We  liad,  I  was 
satisfied,  sacred  principles  to  maintain  and  rights  to  defend 
for  which  we  ivere  in  duty  bound  to  do  our  best,  even  if  we, 
perished  in  the  endeavor." 

There  were  those,  a  few  years  ago,  who  were  especially 
devoted  to  the  somewhat  stereotyped  phrase  that  in  our 
Civil  War  one  side  (meaning  the  North)  "  was  wholly 
and  eternally  right,"  while  the  other  side  (meaning  the 
South)  "  was  wholly  and  eternally  wrong."  I  might  cite 
those  on  the  Southern  side  of  the  great  controversy, 
equally  sincere  and  fully  as  able,  who  would  have  been 
glad  to  persuade  posterity  that  the  North  was  "wholly 
and  eternally  wrong  " ;  that  her  people  waged  war  upon 
sister  States  who  sought  peacefully  to  set  up  a  homo 
geneous  government,  and  meditated  no  wrong  or  warfare 
upon  the  remaining  sister  States.  These  Southern  leaders 
steadfastly  maintained  that  the  Southern  people,  in  the 
exercise  of  the  freedom  and  sovereign  rights  purchased 
by  Revolutionary  blood,  were  asserting  a  second  inde 
pendence  according  to  the  teachings  and  example  of  their 
fathers. 

But  what  good  is  to  come  to  the  country  from  partisan 
utterances  on  either  side  f  My  own  well-considered  and 
long-entertained  opinion,  my  settled  and  profound  con 
viction,  the  correctness  of  which  the  future  will  vindi- 
'  cate,  is  this :  that  the  one  thing  which  is  "  wholly  and 
eternally  wrong "  is  the  effort  of  so-called  statesmen  to 
inject  one-sided  and  jaundiced  sentiments  into  the  youth 
of  the  country  in  either  section.  Such  sentiments  are 
neither  consistent  with  the  truth  of  history,  nor  con 
ducive  to  the  future  welfare  and  unity  of  the  Republic. 
The  assumption  on  either  side  of  all  the  righteousness 
and  all  the  truth  would  produce  a  belittling  arrogance, 


THE   OUTBREAK   OF   THE   WAR         25 

and  an  offensive  intolerance  of  the  opposing  section ;  or, 
if  either  section  could  be  persuaded  that  it  was  "wholly 
and  eternally  wrong,"  it  would  inevitably  destroy  the 
self-respect  and  manhood  of  its  people.  A  far  broader, 
more  truthful,  and  statesmanlike  view  was  presented  by 
the  Hon.  A.  E.  Stevenson,  of  Illinois,  then  Vice-Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  in  his  opening  remarks  as 
presiding  officer  at  the  dedication  of  the  National  Park 
at  Chickamauga.  In  perfect  accord  with  the  sentiment 
of  the  occasion  and  the  spirit  which  led  to  the  establish 
ment  of  this  park  as  a  bond  of  national  brotherhood, 
Mr.  Stevenson  said :  "  Here,  in  the  dread  tribunal  of  last 
resort,  valor  contended  against  valor.  Here  brave  men 
struggled  and  died  for  the  right  as  God  gave  them  to  see 
the  right." 

Mr.  Stevenson  was  right  — "  wholly  and  eternally 
right."  Truth,  justice,  and  patriotism  unite  in  proclaim 
ing  that  both  sides  fought  and  suffered  for  liberty  as 
bequeathed  by  the  Fathers— the  one  for  liberty  in  the 
union  of  the  States,  the  other  for  liberty  in  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  States. 

While  the  object  of  these  papers  is  to  record  my  per 
sonal  reminiscences  and  to  perpetuate  incidents  illus 
trative  of  the  character  of  the  American  soldier,  whether 
he  fought  on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  I  am  also  moved 
to  write  by  what  I  conceive  to  be  a  still  higher  aim ;  and 
that  is  to  point  out,  if  I  can,  the  common  ground  on 
which  all  may  stand ;  where  justification  of  one  section 
does  not  require  or  imply  condemnation  of  the  other— 
the  broad,  high,  sunlit  middle  ground  where  fact  meets 
fact,  argument  confronts  argument,  and  truth  is  balanced 
against  truth. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    TRIP    FROM    CORINTH 

The  Raccoon  Roughs  made  a  part  of  the  Sixth  Alabama—  The  journey 
to  Virginia—  Families  divided  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri 
—A  father  captured  by  a  son  in  battle—  The  military  spirit  in  Vir 
ginia—Andrew  Johnson  and  Parson  Brownlow  Union  leaders  in 
Tennessee—  Johnson's  narrowness  afterward  exhibited  as  President. 


Raccoon  Roughs  made  an  imposing  twelfth 
part  of  the  Sixth  Alabama,  which  was  one  of  the 
largest  regiments  in  the  Confederate  arrny.  Governor 
Moore,  in  order  to  comply  with  his  promise  to  incorpo 
rate  my  company  into  one  of  the  first  regiments  to  be 
organized,  consented  that  the  Sixth  should  contain  twelve 
instead  of  the  regulation  number  of  ten  companies.  A 
movement  had  been  started  in  Atlanta  to  uniform  my 
mountaineers:  but  when  the  message  was  received 
from  Governor  Moore,  inviting  us  to  come  to  Mont 
gomery,  all  thought  of  uniformity  in  dress  was  lost  in 
the  enthusiasm  evoked  by  the  knowledge  that  our  ser 
vices  were  accepted  ;  and  even  after  the  hastily  prepared 
uniforms  were  issued  by  the  new  Government  my  com 
pany  clung  tenaciously  to  "  coonskin  "  head-dress,  which 
made  a  striking  contrast  to  the  gray  caps  worn  by  the 
other  companies. 

No  regulation  uniform  had  at  this  time  been  adopted 
for  field  officers,  and  in  deference  to  the  wishes  and  the 
somewhat  quaint  taste  of  Colonel  Seibles,  the  regimental 
commander,  the  mounted  officers  of  the  Sixth  wore  double- 

26 


THE   TRIP  FROM  CORINTH  27 

breasted  frock-coats  made  of  green  broadcloth,  with 
the  brass  buttons  of  the  United  States  army.  These 
green  coats— more  suited  to  Irishmen  than  to  Americans 
—were  not  discarded  during  the  entire  term  of  our  first 
enlistment  for  twelve  months,  nor  until  we  were  enrolled 
as  a  part  of  the  army  that  was  to  serve  until  Southern 
independence  was  won  or  lost.  I  do  not  know  what 
became  of  my  bottle-green  coat,  with  the  bullet-holes 
through  it,  which  would  now  be  an  object  of  interest  to 
my  children.  It  is  remarkable  that  during  the  war  no 
care  was  taken  of  any  of  these  battle-marked  articles. 
All  minds  and  hearts  were  absorbed  in  the  one  thought 
of  defence.  It  was  a  long  time  before  even  the  flags 
borne  in  battle  became  objects  of  special  veneration,  or 
gathered  about  them  the  sentiment  which  grew  into  a 
passion  as  the  war  neared  its  close.  After  one  of  the 
early  battles  one  of  my  color-bearers  had  secured  and 
fastened  to  the  staff  a  beautiful  new  flag.  When  I  asked 
him  what  he  had  done  with  the  old  one,  he  replied : 

"  I  threw  it  away,  sir.  It  was  so  badly  shot  that  it 
was  not  worth  keeping." 

Our  departure  from  Montgomery  for  Corinth,  Missis 
sippi,  where  we  were  to  go  into  camp  of  instruction  for 
an  indefinite  period,  was  amid  the  roar  of  cannon,  the 
shouts  of  the  multitude,  the  waving  of  flags  and  hand 
kerchiefs,  and  the  prayers  and  tears  of  mothers,  wives, 
and  sisters.  The  encampment  at  Corinth  was  brief  and 
uneventful ;  but  our  trip  thence  to  Virginia  was  intensely 
interesting,  because  of  the  danger  and  threat  of  conflict 
between  my  troops  and  the  citizens  in  certain  localities. 
The  line  of  our  travel  was  through  East  Tennessee, 
where,  even  at  that  early  period,  there  were  evidences  of 
the  radical  conflict  of  opinion  between  neighbors  which 
was  destined  to  eventuate  in  many  bloody  feuds.  At 
the  depots  crowds  of  men  were  gathered,  some  cheering, 
some  jeering,  my  troops  as  they  passed.  From  the  tops 


28    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK 

of  houses  on  one  side  of  the  street  floated  the  Stars  and 
Stripes ;  from  those  on  the  other  were  ensigns  showing 
sympathy  with  the  new-born  Confederacy.  The  respon 
sibility  on  my  shoulders  was  not  a  light  one,  for  it  was 
my  duty  on  every  account  to  restrain  the  ardor  of  my 
own  men  and  prevent  the  slightest  imprudence  of  speech 
or  action.  No  other  locality  approached  East  Tennessee 
in  the  extent  of  suffering  from  this  peculiarly  harassing 
sort  of  strife,  unless  possibly  it  was  the  State  of  Ken 
tucky.  In  both  public  sentiment  was  divided.  There 
was  intense  loyalty  to  the  Union  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  the  Confederate  cause  on  the  other. 

War's  visage  is  grim  enough  at  best ;  and  to  the  people 
of  those  localities  which  were  constantly  subjected  to 
raids,  first  by  one  side  and  then  by  the  other,  its  frown 
ing  face  was  rarely  relieved  by  one  gleam  of  alleviating 
tenderness.  These  divided  communities  were  the  fated 
grist  which  the  demon  of  border  war  seemed  determined 
to  grind  to  dust  between  his  upper  and  nether  mill 
stones. 

In  East  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  neigh 
bors  who  had  been  lifelong  friends  became  extremely 
embittered.  Families  were  divided,  brother  against 
brother,  and  father  against  son.  In  Kentucky,  it  will  be 
remembered,  many  of  the  most  prominent  families  of 
the  State,  among  them  the  Breckin  ridges,  the  Clays, 
and  the  Crittendens,  were  represented  in  both  the  Con 
federate  and  Union  armies.  John  C.  Breckinridge,  who 
had  just  left  the  seat  of  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  and  who  had  been  the  candidate  of  one  wing  of 
the  Democratic  party  for  President,  cast  his  fortunes 
with  the  South,  and  made  a  brilliant  record  as  a  soldier 
and  as  the  last  Confederate  Secretary  of  War.  Other 
members  of  this  distinguished  family  filled  honorable 
positions  in  the  opposing  armies,  and  the  distinguished 
and  somewhat  eccentric  divine,  the  Eev.  Robert  J.  Breck- 


THE   TRIP  FROM  CORINTH  29 

inridge,  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  fervid— not  to 
say  bitter — advocates  of  the  Union  cause.  His  trenchant 
pen  and  lashing  tongue  spared  neither  blood  relatives 
nor  ministers  nor  members  of  the  church,  not  even  those 
of  the  same  faith  with  himself,  provided  he  regarded 
them  as  untrue  to  the  Union.  The  intensity  of  Dr. 
Breckinridge's  antagonism  showed  itself  even  on  his 
death-bed.  He  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stuart  Robinson,  of 
Kentucky,  were  both  eminent  ministers  of  the  same 
church,  Dr.  Robinsou  being  as  intense  a  sympathizer  with 
the  South  as  Dr.  Breckinridge  was  with  the  North.  From 
devoted  friends  they  became  fierce  antagonists  and  un 
compromising  foes.  When  Dr.  Breckinridge  lay  on  his 
death-bed,  his  family  and  some  of  his  church-members 
were  gathered  around  him.  They  were  most  anxious 
that  he  should  be  reconciled  to  all  men,  and  especially 
to  Dr.  Robinson,  before  he  died,  and  they  asked  him, 
"  Brother  Breckinridge,  have  you  forgiven  all  your 
enemies  1 " 

"  Oh,  yes ;  certainly,  certainly  I  have." 

"  Well,  Brother  Breckinridge,  have  you  forgiven  our 
brother  Dr.  Stuart  Robinson?" 

"  Certainly  I  have.  Did  n't  I  just  tell  you  that  I  had 
forgiven  all  my  enemies?" 

"  But,  Brother  Breckinridge,  when  you  meet  Brother 
Stuart  Robinson  in  heaven,  do  you  feel  that  you  can 
greet  him  as  all  the  redeemed  ought  to  greet  one 
another  ? " 

"  Don't  bother  me  with  such  questions.  Stuart  Rob 
inson  will  never  get  there ! " 

During  the  year  1895  I  was  honored  with  an  invita 
tion  to  address  an  audience  in  Maysville,  Kentucky.  1 
was  deeply  impressed  by  the  fact  conveyed  to  me 
that  a  large  number  of  those  who  sat  before  me  had 
the  harmony  and  happiness  of  their  homes  destroyed 
for  the  four  years  of  war  by  the  inexpressibly  horrid 


30  EEMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

thought  that  sons  of  the  same  parents  were  pitted  against 
each  other  in  battle.  I  was  personally  presented  to  a 
number  of  these  formerly  divided  brothers  who  had 
bravely  fought  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  in  oppos 
ing  lines,  but  were  now  reunited  under  the  old  family 
roof  and  in  the  common  Republic.  It  was  a  Kentucky 
father,  I  believe,  both  of  whose  sons  had  been  killed  in 
battle,  the  one  in  the  Confederate,  the  other  in  the  Union 
army,  who  erected  to  the  memory  of  both  over  their 
common  grave  the  monument  on  which  he  had  inscribed 
these  five  monosyllables:  "God  knows  which  was  right." 
So  much  has  been  said  and  written  of  the  peculiar 
trials  and  horrors  experienced  by  the  divided  com 
munities  in  Missouri,  East  Tennessee,  and  Kentucky 
that  it  is  a  privilege  to  record  one  of  the  incidents  which 
at  rare  intervals  sent  rays  of  light  through  those  un 
happy  localities.  Major  Edwards,  of  the  Confederate 
army,  who  afterward  became  an  editor  of  distinction 
in  Missouri,  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  a  neighbor 
and  friend  who  was  as  intense  a  Unionist  as  the  major 
was  an  enthusiastic  Confederate.  Each  felt  it  his  duty 
to  go  into  the  service,  and  when  the  war  came  they 
parted  to  take  their  places  in  opposing  battle  lines. 
Later  on,  Major  Edwards  captured  this  former  neighbor 
and  friend  behind  the  Southern  lines,  and  near  their 
Missouri  home.  In  reply  to  the  question  as  to  why  he 
had  taken  such  risk  of  being  captured  and  sent  to  a 
Southern  prison,  the  Union  soldier  explained  that  his 
wife  was  behind  those  lines  and  extremely  ill— probably 
dying;  that  he  had  taken  the  risk  of  slipping  at  night 
between  the  Confederate  picket  posts  in  order  to  receive 
her  last  blessing  and  embrace.  This  statement  was 
enough  for  the  knightly  man  in  gray.  The  Union  sol 
dier  was  at  once  made  a  prisoner,  but  only  in  the  bonds 
of  brotherly  tenderness.  His  house  was  carefully  guarded 
by  Major  Edwards  himself  until  the  sad  parting  with  his 


THE   TRIP  FROM  CORINTH  31 

wife  was  over,  and  then  he  was  safely  conducted  through 
the  Confederate  lines  and  sent  with  a  Confederate's  sym 
pathy  to  his  post  of  duty  in  the  Union  camps. 

At  a  recent  reunion  of  the  United  Confederate  Vet 
erans,  I  was  told  of  a  thrilling  incident  which  still  fur 
ther  and  more  strikingly  illustrates  the  tragedy  of  war 
in  these  divided  States.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war 
Major  M.  H.  Clift,  of  Tennessee,  was  a  mere  lad,  and 
was  attending  school  in  another  State.  His  father  was 
an  East  Tennesseean  and  was  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union.  Young  Clift,  however,  was  carried  away  by  the 
storm  of  Southern  enthusiasm  and  joined  the  Confed 
erate  army.  The  father  soon  yielded  to  his  own  sense 
of  patriotic  duty,  and  enlisted  in  one  of  the  Union  regi 
ments  formed  in  the  neighborhood.  In  the  fortunes  of 
war,  the  two,  father  and  son,  were  soon  called  to  con 
front  each  other  under  hostile  banners  and  in  battle 
array.  Neither  had  the  remotest  thought  that  the  other 
stood  in  his  front.  In  a  furious  charge  by  the  Southern 
lines  this  young  Confederate  forced  a  Union  soldier  to 
surrender  to  him.  Looking  into  the  captured  soldier's 
face,  the  young  man  recognized  his  own  father.  No  pen 
could  adequately  depict  his  consternation  when  he  real 
ized  that  he  had  been  on  the  point  of  killing  his  father, 
nor  the  joy  which  filled  his  heart  that  this  dire  calamity 
had  been  averted.  Steps  were  at  once  taken  to  render 
it  certain  that  no  such  contingency  should  again  occur. 

But  the  horrors  of  family  division  were  not  confined 
to  these  States.  There  were  conspicuous  instances  else 
where  of  the  disruption  of  the  most  sacred  ties.  The 
Virginia  kindred  of  that  able  soldier  General  George  H. 
Thomas,  and  of  ex-President  Harrison,  were  in  the  Con 
federate  service,  while  those  of  Generals  Lovell  and 
Pemberton,  who  fought  for  the  Southern  cause,  and  of 
Mrs.  General  Longstreet,  supported  the  flag  of  the  Union. 

In  my  own  State  the  wife  of  a  Confederate  officer  saw 


32    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL    WAB 

her  husband  retreat  from  Savannah  under  the  Confed 
erate  commander,  while  her  own  dearly  loved  kindred 
marched  into  the  town  under  General  W.  T.  Sherman. 
This  wife  was  Nellie  Kinzie,  said  to  be  the  first  white 
child  born  in  Chicago.  She  grew  to  accomplished 
womanhood,  and  married  William  W.  Gordon  of  Savan 
nah,  who  made  a  brilliant  record  as  a  Confederate  officer, 
and  during  our  recent  war  with  Spain  was  commis 
sioned  brigadier-general  by  President  McKinley.  Mrs. 
Gordon  was  intensely  loyal  to  her  husband  and  to  the 
cause  he  loved,  but  her  kindred — her  only  kindred — were 
in  the  Union  army  and  conspicuous  for  their  gallantry 
in  almost  every  arm  of  the  service.  As  she  stood  with 
her  children  watching  the  Federal  troops  march  in  tri 
umphant  array  under  the  windows  of  her  Southern 
home,  a  splendid  brass  band  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
divisions  began  playing  that  familiar  old  air,  "  When  this 
Cruel  War  is  Over."  As  soon  as  the  notes  struck  the 
ears  of  her  little  daughter,  this  enthusiastic  young  Con 
federate  exclaimed,  "  Mamma,  just  listen  to  the  Yankees 
playing  'When  this  Cruel  War  is  Over,'  and  they  just 
doing  it  themselves !  " 

When  we  reached  Virginia  the  military  spirit  was  in 
full  flood-tide.  The  State  had  just  passed  the  ordinance 
of  secession,  and  almost  every  young  and  middle-aged 
man  was  volunteering  for  service.  Even  the  servants 
were  becoming  interested  in  the  military  positions  to 
which  the  aspiring  young  men  of  the  household  might 
be  assigned.  I  recall  an  incident  so  strikingly  charac 
teristic  that  it  seems  due  to  a  proper  appreciation  of 
these  old-time  loyal  and  faithful  slaves  that  I  give  it  in 
this  connection. 

Old  Simon  was  the  trusted  and  devoted  butler  of  a 
leading  Virginia  family,  and  was  very  proud  of  his 
young  master,  who  had  just  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the 
cavalry,  and,  dressed  in  his  new  uniform  and  mounted 


JOHN  B.  GORDON 

Drawn  by  George  T.  Tobin  from  a  daguerreotype  taken  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two. 


THE  TRIP  FROM  CORINTH  33 

upon  his  blooded  horse,  was  drilling  every  day  with  his 
company.  He  was,  in  old  Simon's  estimation,  the  equal, 
if  not  the  superior,  of  any  soldier  that  was  ever  booted 
and  spurred.  The  time  came  for  the  company  to  start 
to  the  front,  and  one  of  them  rode  up  and  asked  old 
Simon : 

"  Is  Bob  here,  Simon,  or  has  he  gone  to  camp  I " 

"Is  you  talking  about  my  young  marster,  Colonel 
Eolert?" 

"Yes;  of  course  I  am,  Simon,"  replied  the  trooper. 

"  But  I  should  like  to  know  how  in  the Bob  got  to 

be  a  colonel  ? " 

"  Lawd,  sir,  he  's  des  born  a  colonel ! "  said  Simon ; 
and  his  genuine  and  unaffected  pride  in  this  belief 
flashed  in  his  old  eyes  and  rang  in  his  tones. 

No  account  of  East  Tennessee's  condition  and  expe 
riences  at  this  period  would  be  complete  without  a  few 
words  in  reference  to  those  impetuous  East  Tennessee 
Union  leaders,  Andrew  Johnson,  who  afterward  became 
President,  and  the  redoubtable  Parson  Brownlow,  whose 
fiery  denunciations  of  the  Southern  cause  filled  the 
columns  of  his  paper,  "Brownlow's  Whig."  Lifelong 
political  antagonists,  the  one  a  Democrat,  the  other  a 
Whig,  and  both  aggressive  and  unrelenting,  they  never 
theless,  when  civil  war  approached,  buried  the  partisan 
tomahawk  and  wielded  the  Union  battle-axe  side  by  side. 
They  became  coadjutors  and  the  most  powerful  civil 
supporters  of  the  Union  cause  in  the  State,  if  not  in  the 
South.  Andrew  Johnson,  as  is  well  known,  was  a  tailor 
when  a  young  man,  and,  it  is  said,  was  taught  to  read  by 
his  faithful  wife.  He  deserved  and  received  immense 
credit  for  the  laborious  study  and  untiring  perseverance 
which  converted  the  scissors  of  his  shop  into  the  sceptre 
of  Chief  Executive  of  the  world's  greatest  Republic ;  but 
he  did  not  broaden  in  sentiment  in  proportion  to  the 
elevation  he  attained  and  the  gravity  of  the  responsi- 


34    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

bilities  imposed.  He  was  strong  but  narrow.  He  could 
not  be  a  statesman  in  the  highest  sense  of  that  term, 
because  he  was  swayed  by  prejudice  more  than  by  lofty 
convictions.  That  he  was  impelled  by  motives  intensely 
patriotic  in  adhering  to  the  Union  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  doubt;  but  his  utter  failure  to  rise  to  a  full 
conception  of  the  situation  in  which  he  found  himself 
after  President  Lincoln's  unfortunate  death  was  pain 
fully  apparent  to  every  thoughtful  observer.  His 
intolerant  bigotry,  and  his  failure  to  appreciate  the  ob 
ligations  imposed  upon  him  by  General  Grant's  mag 
nanimous  and  solemn  compact  with  the  Southern  army 
at  Appomattox,  were  manifested  by  his  desire  to  arrest 
General  Lee  and  other  prominent  prisoners  of  war  who 
had  protecting  paroles.  His  blind  prejudice  against  our 
best  people  was  shown  in  his  selection  of  classes  for 
amnesty;  and  the  low  plane  on  which  he  planted  his 
administration  was  evidenced  by  his  inconsistencies,  his 
vacillations,  and  his  reversal  of  the  wise,  generous,  and 
statesmanly  policy  of  his  great  predecessor.  But  the  nar 
rowness  of  the  man  and  the  amazing  absurdity  of  his  prej 
udice  are  sufficiently  exhibited  in  a  circumstance  trivial 
in  itself,  but  which,  perhaps  on  that  account,  more  clearly 
indicates  his  calibre.  A  few  months  after  the  war  was 
over,  I  was  passing  through  Washington,  and  called  to 
pay  my  respects  to  General  Grant,  who  had  shown  me 
personally,  at  the  close  of  hostilities,  marked  considera 
tion  and  kindness,  of  which  I  shall  make  mention  in 
another  chapter.  General  Grant  offered  to  introduce  me 
to  President  Johnson,  whom  I  had  never  met.  We 
walked  across  to  the  Executive  Mansion,  and  General 
Grant  gave  the  usher  a  card  on  which  was  written, 
"  General  Grant,  with  General  Gordon  of  Georgia,"  with 
instructions  to  the  usher  to  hand  it  to  the  President. 
We  were  at  once  admitted  to  his  presence,  and  I  was 
introduced  by  General  Grant  as  "  General  Gordon,"  with 


THE   TRIP  FROM  CORINTH  35 

some  complimentary  reference  to  my  rank  and  service 
in  General  Lee's  army.  The  President  met  this  intro 
duction  by  these  words,  pronounced  with  peculiar 
emphasis,  "How  are  you,  Mr.  Gordon?"  especially  accent 
uating  the  word  Mister.  I  was  neither  angry  nor  indig 
nant,  but  my  contempt  was  sincere  for  the  ineffable 
littleness  of  the  man  whose  untimely  ascendancy  to 
power  at  that  critical  period  I  can  but  regard  as  the  ver 
iest  mockery  of  fate. 

Contrast  this  foolish  and  abortive  effort  at  insult  with 
the  conduct  of  President  Grant,  who  succeeded  him,  or 
of  General  Grant  as  soldier,  or  with  that  of  any  other 
prominent  soldier  or  high-minded  citizen  of  the  country. 
The  conduct  of  General  Hancock  at  General  Grant's 
funeral  in  New  York  is  perhaps  in  still  greater  contrast 
with  that  of  President  Johnson.  Although  the  incident 
I  am  about  to  relate  is  chronologically  out  of  place  here, 
it  is  emphatically  in  place  as  illustrating  the  point  I  am 
making  in  reference  to  President  Johnson. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  General  Hancock  was 
commander  of  the  Department  of  the  East  (United 
States  army)  at  the  time  of  General  Grant's  death,  and 
was,  by  reason  of  his  military  rank,  the  chief  marshal  of 
that  stupendous  and  most  impressive  pageant  wit 
nessed  in  New  York  at  General  Grant's  obsequies. 
I  was  included  among  those  ex-Confederate  officers  who 
had  been  specially  invited  to  participate  in  the  honors 
to  be  paid  to  the  dead  soldier  and  former  President. 
General  Hancock  had  requested  that  I  should  ride  with 
him  at  the  head  of  the  mighty  procession,  and  he  had 
playfully  said  to  the  staff  that  each  of  us  should  take 
his  place  according  to  rank.  Of  course  I  had  no  thought 
of  claiming  any  rank,  and  I  took  my  place  in  the  rear  of 
the  regular  staff.  General  Hancock  sent  one  after  an 
other  of  his  immediate  staff  to  request  me  to  ride  up  to 
the  front,  with  the  message  that  I  must  obey  orders  and 


36    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

report  to  him  at  once  at  the  head  of  the  column.  When 
I  reached  the  head  of  the  column,  General  Hancock 
directed  the  staff  to  compare  dates  and  ascertain  the 
ranking  officer  who  should  ride  on  his  right.  My  rank 
as  a  Confederate  general  was  higher  than  that  of  any 
other  member  of  his  staff,  and  he  ordered  that  I  should 
take  the  place  of  honor.  As  I  could  not  gracefully  re 
sist  this  assignment  any  longer,  I  accepted  it,  saying  to 
the  Union  generals,  who  also  served  on  General  Han 
cock's  staff,  that  they  had  overwhelmed  me  some  twenty- 
odd  years  before,  but  that  I  had  them  down  now.  Gen 
eral  Fitzhugh  Lee  was  similarly  honored. 

In  closing  this  chapter,  it  is  not  necessary,  I  trust,  for 
me  to  say  that  I  would  do  no  injustice  to  the  memory  of 
President  Johnson,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  future 
manhood  of  our  country  can  be  ennobled  by  the  contem 
plation  of  the  marked  and  notable  contrasts  here  pre 
sented,  and  by  a  realization  of  the  truth  that  no  station 
in  life,  however  conspicuous,  can  conceal  from  view  the 
weakness  of  its  possessor.  Certainly  it  can  inflict  no 
damage  upon  the  character  of  our  youth  to  let  them  un 
derstand  that  the  gulf  is  both  broad  and  deep  which 
separates  the  highest  type  of  courage  from  petty  and 
ignoble  spite,  and  that  the  line  which  divides  true  nobil 
ity  of  soul  from  narrowness  of  spirit  was  drawn  by  God's 
hand,  and  will  become  clearer  to  human  apprehension 
as  we  approach  nearer  to  Him  in  thought  and  action. 


CHAPTER  III 

BULL   KUN    OR   MANASSAS 

The  first  great  battle  of  the  war— A  series  of  surprises— Mishaps  and 
mistakes  of  the  Confederates— BeauregarcTs  lost  order— General 
E well's  rage  — The  most  eccentric  officer  in  the  Confederate  army— 
Anecdotes  of  his  career— The  wild  panic  of  the  Union  troops- 
Senseless  frights  that  cannot  be  explain ed— Illustrated  at  Cedar  Creek. 

THE  battle  of  Bull  Run  or  Manassas  was  the  first,  and 
in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable,  battle  of  our 
Civil  War.  It  was  a  series  of  surprises— the  unexpected 
happening  at  almost  every  moment  of  its  progress. 
Planned  by  the  Union  chieftain  with  consummate  skill, 
executed  for  the  most  part  with  unquestioned  ability, 
and  fought  by  the  Union  troops  for  a  time  with  mag 
nificent  courage,  it  ended  at  last  in  their  disastrous  rout 
and  the  official  decapitation  of  their  able  commander. 
On  the  Confederate  side  it  was  a  chapter  of  mishaps, 
miscarriages,  and  of  some  mistakes.  It  was  also  a  chap 
ter  of  superb  fighting  by  the  Southern  army,  and  of 
final  complete  and  overwhelming  victory.  The  breaking 
down  of  the  train  bearing  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston's 
troops  was  an  accident  which  almost  defeated  the  con 
summation  of  that  splendid  piece  of  strategy  by  which 
he  had  eluded  General  Patterson  in  the  Valley,  and 
which  had  enabled  him  to  hurry  almost  his  entire  force 
to  the  support  of  General  Beauregard  at  Manassas.  The 
mistakes  are  represented  by  the  fact  that  the  feint  of 
General  McDowell  on  the  Confederate  front  was  believed 

37 


38    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR 

to  be  the  real  attack,  until  the  Union  general  was  hurl 
ing  his  army  on  Beauregard's  flank.  Finally,  the  most 
serious  miscarriage  was  that  the  order  from  Beauregard 
to  Ewell  directing  an  assault  on  the  Union  left  failed  to 
reach  that  officer.  This  strange  miscarriage  prevented 
General  Ewell  from  making  a  movement  which  it  then 
seemed  probable  and  now  appears  certain  would  have 
added  materially  to  McDowell's  disaster.  I  had  already 
been  instructed  by  him  to  make  a  reconnaissance  in  the 
direction  of  the  anticipated  assault,  but  I  had  been  sud 
denly  recalled  just  as  my  skirmishers  were  opening  fire. 
I  was  recalled  because  General  Ewell  had  not  received 
the  promised  order.  For  me  it  was  perhaps  a  most  for 
tunate  recall,  for  in  my  isolated  position  I  should  prob 
ably  have  been  surrounded  and  my  little  command  cut 
to  pieces.  On  my  return  I  found  General  Ewell  in  an 
agony  of  suspense.  He  was  chafing  like  a  caged  lion, 
infuriated  by  the  scent  of  blood.  He  would  mount  his 
horse  one  moment  and  dismount  the  next.  He  would 
walk  rapidly  to  and  fro,  muttering  to  himself,  "  No  or 
ders,  no  orders."  General  Ewell,  who  afterward  became 
a  corps  commander,  had  in  many  respects  the  most 
unique  personality  I  have  ever  known.  He  was  a  com 
pound  of  anomalies,  the  oddest,  most  eccentric  genius 
in  the  Confederate  army.  He  was  my  friend,  and  I  was 
sincerely  and  deeply  attached  to  him.  No  man  had  a 
better  heart  nor  a  worse  manner  of  showing  it.  He  was 
in  truth  as  tender  and  sympathetic  as  a  woman,  but, 
even  under  slight  provocation,  he  became  externally  as 
rough  as  a  polar  bear,  and  the  needles  with  which  he 
pricked  sensibilities  were  more  numerous  and  keener 
than  porcupines'  quills.  His  written  orders  were  full, 
accurate,  and  lucid ;  but  his  verbal  orders  or  directions, 
especially  when  under  intense  excitement,  no  man  could 
comprehend.  At  such  times  his  eyes  would  flash  with  a 
peculiar  brilliancy,  and  his  brain  far  outran  his  tongue. 


BULL   RUN   OR   MANASSAS  39 

His  thoughts  would  leap  across  great  gaps  which  his 
words  never  touched,  but  which  he  expected  his  listener 
to  fill  up  by  intuition,  and  woe  to  the  dull  subordinate 
who  failed  to  understand  him ! 

When  he  was  first  assigned  to  command  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  war,  he  had  recently  returned  from  fighting 
Indians  on  the  Western  frontier.  He  had  been  deal 
ing  only  with  the  enlisted  men  of  the  standing  army. 
His  experience  in  that  wild  border  life,  away  from 
churches,  civilization,  and  the  refining  influences  of 
woman's  society,  were  not  particularly  conducive  to 
the  development  of  the  softer  and  better  side  of  his  na 
ture.  He  became  a  very  pious  man  in  his  later  years, 
but  at  this  time  he  was  not  choice  in  the  manner  of  ex 
pressing  himself.  He  asked  me  to  take  a  hasty  break 
fast  with  him  just  before  he  expected  the  order  from 
Beauregard  to  ford  Bull  Run  and  rush  upon  McDowell's 
left.  His  verbal  invitation  was  in  these  words :  "  Come 
and  eat  a  cracker  with  me;  we  will  breakfast  together 
here  and  dine  together  in  hell."  To  a  young  officer  like 
myself,  who  had  never  been  under  fire  except  at  long 
range,  on  scouting  excursions,  or  on  the  skirmish-line, 
such  an  invitation  was  not  inspiring  or  appetizing ;  but 
Swell's  spirits  seemed  to  be  in  a  flutter  of  exultation. 

An  hour  later,  after  I  had  been  recalled  from  my  peril 
ous  movement  to  "feel  of  the  enemy,"  I  found  General 
Ewell,  as  I  have  said,  almost  frenzied  with  anxiety  over 
the  non-arrival  of  the  anticipated  order  to  move  to  the 
attack.  He  directed  me  to  send  to  him  at  once  a  mounted 
man  "with  sense  enough  to  go  and  find  out  what  was  the 
matter."  I  ordered  a  member  of  the  governor's  Horse 
Guard  to  report  immediately  to  General  Ewell.  This 
troop  represented  some  of  the  best  blood  of  Virginia. 
Its  privates  were  refined  and  accomplished  gentlemen, 
many  of  them  LTniversity  graduates,  who,  at  the  first 
tocsin  of  war,  had  sprung  into  their  saddles  as  volun- 


40    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

teers.  The  intelligent  young  trooper  who  was  selected 
to  ride  upon  this  most  important  mission  under  the 
verbal  direction  of  G-eneral  Ewell  himself,  mounted  his 
high-spirited  horse,  and,  with  high-top  boots,  polished 
spurs,  and  clanking  sabre,  galloped  away  to  where  the 
general  was  impatiently  waiting  at  his  temporary  head 
quarters  on  the  hill.  Before  this  inexperienced  but 
promising  young  soldier  had  time  to  lift  his  hat  in  re 
spectful  salutation,  the  general  was  slashing  away  with 
tongue  and  finger,  delivering  his  directions  with  such 
rapidity  and  incompleteness  that  the  young  man's 
thoughts  were  dancing  through  his  brain  in  inextricable 
confusion.  The  general,  having  thus  delivered  himself, 
quickly  asked,  "Do  you  understand,  sir?"  Of  course 
the  young  man  did  not  understand,  and  he  began 
timidly  to  ask  for  a  little  more  explicit  information. 
The  fiery  old  soldier  cut  short  the  interview  with  "  Go 
away  from  here  and  send  me  a  man  who  has  some 
sense !" 

Later  in  the  war,  when  I  was  commanding  a  division 
in  Stonewall  Jackson's  old  corps,  then  commanded  by 
General  Ewell,  I  had  a  very  similar  experience  with  this 
eccentric  officer.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  bat 
tles  between  Lee  and  Grant  in  the  Wilderness.  As 
already  explained.  General  Ewell's  spirits,  like  the  eagle's 
wings  gathering  additional  power  in  the  storm,  seemed 
to  mount  higher  and  higher  as  the  fury  of  the  battle  in 
creased.  My  division  of  his  corps  was  advancing  under 
a  galling  fire.  General  Ewell  rode  at  full  speed  to  the 
point  where  I  was  intensely  engaged  directing  the  charge, 
and  asked  me  to  lend  him  one  of  my  staff,  his  own  all 
having  been  despatched  with  orders  to  different  portions 
of  the  field.  I  indicated  a  staff-officer  whom  he  might 
command,  and  he  began,  in  his  characteristic  style  under 
excitement,  to  tell  this  officer  what  to  do.  My  staff-offi 
cer  had  learned  to  interpret  the  general  fairly  well,  but 


BULL  RUN   OR  MANASSAS  41 

to  catch  his  meaning  at  one  point  stopped  him  and  said : 
"Let  me  see  if  I  understand  you,  sir!"  General  Ewell 
was  so  incensed  at  this  insinuation  of  lack  of  perspicuity 
that  he  turned  away  abruptly,  without  a  word  of  explana 
tion,  simply  throwing  up  his  hand  and  blowing  away  the 
young  officer  with  a  sort  of  "whoo-oo-oot."  There  is  no 
way  to  spell  out  this  indignant  and  resounding  puff ;  but 
oven  in  the  fierce  battle  that  was  raging  there  was  a 
'•oar  of  laughter  from  the  other  members  of  my  staff  as 
the  droll  and  doughty  warrior  rushed  away  to  another 
part  of  the  field. 

I  cannot  conclude  this  imperfect  portrayal  of  the 
peculiarities  of  this  splendid  soldier  and  eccentric  genius 
without  placing  upon  record  one  more  incident  connected 
with  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run.  While  he  waited  for 
the  order  from  Beauregard  (which  never  came),  I  sat  on 
my  horse  near  him  as  he  was  directing  the  location  of  a 
battery  to  cover  the  ford,  and  fire  upon  a  Union  battery 
and  its  supports  on  the  opposite  hills.  As  our  guns  were 
unlimbered,  a  young  lady,  who  had  been  caught  between 
the  lines  of  the  two  armies,  galloped  up  to  where  the 
general  and  I  were  sitting  on  our  horses,  and  began  to 
tell  the  story  of  what  she  had  seen.  She  had  mounted 
her  horse  just  in  front  of  General  McDowell's  troops, 
who  it  was  expected  would  attempt  to  force  a  crossing 
at  this  point.  This  Virginia  girl,  who  appeared  to  be 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of  age,  was  in  a  flutter  of 
martial  excitement.  She  was  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  belief  that  she  really  had  something  of  impor 
tance  to  tell.  The  information  which  she  was  trying  to 
convey  to  General  Ewell  she  was  sure  would  be  of  vast 
import  to  the  Confederate  cause,  and  she  was  bound  to 
deliver  it.  General  Ewell  listened  to  her  for  a  few  min 
utes,  and  then  called  her  attention  to  the  Union  batteries 
that  were  rushing  into  position  and  getting  ready  to 
open  fire  upon  the  Confederate  lines.  He  said  to  her,  in 


42   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

his  quick,  quaint  manner :  "  Look  there,  look  there,  miss ! 
Don't  you  see  those  men  with  blue  clothes  on,  in 
the  edge  of  the  woods?  Look  at  those  men  loading 
those  big  guns.  They  are  going  to  fire,  and  fire  quick, 
and  fire  right  here.  You  '11  get  killed.  You  '11  be  a  dead 
damsel  in  less  than  a  minute.  Get  away  from  liere ! 
Get  away ! "  The  young  woman  looked  over  at  the 
blue  coats  and  the  big  guns,  but  paid  not  the  slightest 
attention  to  either.  Nor  did  she  make  any  reply  to  his 
urgent  injunction,  "  Get  away  from  here ! "  but  con 
tinued  the  story  of  what  she  had  seen.  General  Ewell, 
who  was  a  crusty  old  bachelor  at  that  time,  and  knew  far 
less  about  women  than  he  did  about  wild  Indians,  was 
astounded  at  this  exhibition  of  feminine  courage.  He 
gazed  at  her  in  mute  wonder  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then 
turned  to  me  suddenly,  and,  with  a  sort  of  jerk  in  his 
words,  said:  "Women— I  tell  you,  sir,  women  would 
make  a  grand  brigade— if  it  was  not  for  snakes  and 
spiders ! "  He  then  added  much  more  thoughtfully : 
"They  don't  mind  bullets— women  are  not  afraid  of 
bullets ;  but  one  big  black-snake  would  put  a  whole  army 
to  flight."  And  he  had  not  fired  very  wide  of  the  mark. 
It  requires  the  direst  dangers,  especially  where  those 
dangers  threaten  some  cause  or  object  around  which 
their  affections  are  entwined,  to  call  out  the  marvellous 
courage  of  women.  Under  such  conditions  they  will 
brave  death  itself  without  a  quiver.  I  have  seen  one  of 
them  tested.  I  saw  Mrs.  Gordon  on  the  streets  of  Win 
chester,  under  fire,  her  soul  aflame  with  patriotic  ardor, 
appealing  to  retreating  Confederates  to  halt  and  form  a 
new  line  to  resist  the  Union  advance.  She  was  so  trans 
ported  by  her  patriotic  passion  that  she  took  no  notice 
of  the  whizzing  shot  and  shell,  and  seemed  wholly  uncon 
scious  of  her  great  peril.  And  yet  she  will  precipitately 
fly  from  a  bat,  and  a  big  black  bug  would  fill  her  with 
panic. 


BULL  RUN  OE  MANASSAS  43 

Those  who  are  inclined  to  investigate  the  mysteries  of 
that  strange  compound  which  makes  up  our  mental, 
moral,  and  physical  natures  will  find  abundant  material 
in  the  wild  panic  which  seized  and  shook  to  pieces  the 
Union  army  at  Bull  Eun,  scattering  it  in  disorganized 
fragments  through  woods  and  fields  and  by-ways,  and 
filling  the  roads  with  broken  wagons  and  knapsacks, 
and  small  arms— an  astounding  experience  which  was 
the  prototype  of  similar  scenes  to  be  enacted  in  both 
armies  in  the  later  stages  of  the  war.  No  better  troops 
were  ever  marshalled  than  those  who  filled  the  Union 
and  Confederate  ranks.  Indeed,  taking  them  all  in 
all,  I  doubt  whether  they  have  been  equalled.  How 
courage  of  the  noblest  type,  such  as  these  American  sol 
diers  possessed,  could  be  converted  in  an  instant  into 
apparent  —  even  apparent  —  cowardice  is  one  of  the 
secrets,  unsolvable  perhaps,  of  our  being.  What  was 
the  special,  sufficient,  and  justifiable  ground  for  such 
uncontrollable  apprehensions  in  men  who  enlisted  to 
meet  death,  and  did  meet  it,  or  were  ready  to  meet  it, 
bravely  and  grandly  on  a  hundred  fields  ?  The  panic  at 
Bull  Eun  seized  McDowell's  whole  army ;  and  yet  a  large 
portion  of  it  at  the  moment  the  panic  occurred  was  per 
haps  not  under  fire— certainly  in  no  danger  of  annihi 
lation  or  of  serious  harm.  Yet  they  fled,  all  or  practi 
cally  all— fled  with  uncontrollable  terror.  Of  course 
there  were  times  when  it  was  necessary  to  retreat. 
Occasions  came,  I  presume,  to  every  command  that  did 
much  fighting  during  those  four  years,  when  the  most 
sensible  thing  to  do  was  to  go,  and  without  much 
thought  as  to  the  order  of  the  going— the  faster  the 
better.  It  is  not  that  class  of  retreats  that  I  am  consid 
ering.  These  were  not  panics;  nor  did  they  bear  any 
special  resemblance  to  panics,  except  that  in  both  cases 
it  was  flight— even  disorganized  flight.  There  was,  how 
ever,  this  radical  difference  between  the  two:  in  one 


44    BEMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAE 

case  the  men  were  ready  to  halt,  reform  their  lines,  and 
fight  again;  in  the  other  case  these  same  men  were  as 
heedless  of  an  officer's  orders  (supposing  the  officer  to 
have  retained  his  senses)  as  a  herd  of  wild  buffaloes. 

The  soldiers  on  both  sides  who  may  read .  this  book 
will  recall  many  instances  of  both  kinds  of  flight.  One 
of  the  good-natured  gibes  with  which  the  infantry 
poked  the  ribs  of  the  cavalry  was  that  they  had  too 
many  feet  and  legs  under  them  to  stand  and  be  shot  at ; 
but  what  old  soldier  of  either  arm  of  the  service  will 
refuse  to  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  Confederate 
cavalry  on  many  occasions  charged  batteries  and  solid 
lines,  and,  after  being  repulsed,  would  retreat,  reform, 
and  charge  again  and  again— a  constant  alternation  of 
charges  and  rapid  retreats  without  the  slightest  indi 
cation  of  panic  1  I  saw  Sheridan's  cavalry  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia  form  in  my  front,  charge  across  the  open 
fields  and  almost  over  my  lines,  which  were  posted  be 
hind  stone  fences.  They  rode  at  a  furious  rate,  driving 
spurs  into  their  horses'  sides  as  they  rushed  like  a 
mountain  torrent  against  the  rock  wall.  Some  of  them 
went  over  it,  only  to  be  captured  or  shot.  They  dis 
charged  carbines  in  our  faces,  and  then  retreated  in 
fairly  good  order,  under  a  furious  fire,  with  apparently 
no  more  of  panic  than  if  they  had  been  fighting  a  sham 
battle. 

But  those  sudden  and  sometimes  senseless  frights 
which  deprived  brave  men  of  all  self-control  for  the 
time,  were  so  unexpected,  so  strange  and  terrible,  so 
inconsistent  with  the  conduct  of  the  same  men  at  other 
times  and  under  circumstances  equally  and  perhaps 
even  more  trying,  that  they  justify  a  few  additional  illus 
trations. 

The  battle  of  Cedar  Creek  in  the  Shenandoah  Val 
ley,  on  October  19,  1864,  about  which  I  shall  have 
more  to  say  in  its  chronological  order,  furnishes  cases  in 


BULL  RUN  OR  MANASSAS  45 

point  by  both  armies  and  on  the  same  day.  Neither  the 
panic  which  struck  with  such  resistless  terror,  Sheridan's 
two  corps  as  they  were  assaulted  at  dawn,  and  which 
sent  them,  as  the  sun  rose  over  the  adjacent  mountains, 
flying  in  wildest  rout  from  the  fields  and  for  miles  to  the 
rear,  with  no  enemy  in  pursuit;  nor  the  panic  which 
seized  and  sent  General  Early's  army,  as  that  same  sun 
was  setting  behind  the  opposite  mountains,  rushing 
across  the  bridges,  or  into  the  chilly  waters,  and  through 
the  dense  cedars  of  the  limestone  cliffs— neither  of  these 
was  the  necessary,  logical,  or  even  natural  sequence  of 
the  conditions  which  preceded  them.  There  is  no  logic 
in  a  panic.  It  is  true  that  in  both  cases  the  armies  had 
been  assailed  in  front  and  flank;  and  the  cry,  "We  are 
flanked ! "  not  infrequently  produced  upon  the  steadiest 
battalions  an  effect  similar  to  that  caused  among  pas 
sengers  at  sea  by  the  alarm  of  fire.  But  the  point  is 
that  while  it  might  not  have  been  possible  to  prevent 
the  opposing  forces  from  achieving  a  victory  after  the 
flank  movement  was  under  full  headway,  yet  the  retreat 
in  each  case  could  have  been  accomplished  with  far 
lighter  losses  in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners.  If  the 
armies  had  not  allowed  the  unnecessary  panic  to  deprive 
them  of  their  reason  and  thus  of  all  control  of  will  power, 
they  would  have  had  a  better  chance  for  life  in  a  some 
what  orderly  retreat,  distracting  and  confusing  the  aim 
of  the  advancing  lines  by  returning  fire  for  fire,  than  by 
permitting  the  pursuers  deliberately  to  shoot  them  in 
the  back. 

The  strangest  fact  of  all  is  that  many  of  these  men  in 
both  armies  had  often  exhibited  before,  as  they  did  on 
many  succeeding  fields  and  under  just  as  trying  condi 
tions,  a  heroism  rarely  equalled  and  never  excelled  in 
military  annals— a  heroism  that  defied  danger  and  was 
impervious  to  panic.  Sheridan's  men,  who  threw  away 
everything  that  could  impede  their  flight  in  the  morning 


46    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

at  Cedar  Creek,  fought  with  splendid  courage  before  and 
afterward.  Indeed,  they  returned  that  same  afternoon 
and  made  most  honorable  amends  for  the  mistakes  of 
the  morning.  Some  of  these  same  Confederates  had 
been  flanked  and  almost  surrounded  by  McDowell's 
army  in  the  early  hours  at  Bull  Run  and  yet  felt  no 
symptoms  of  panic.  Some  of  them  had  been  with  me 
at  South  Mountain  in  762,  detached  for  the  moment 
from  the  main  army,  at  times  nearly  surrounded, 
attacked  first  in  front,  then  upon  the  right,  and  then 
upon  the  left  flank,  changing  front  under  fire,  retreating 
now  slowly,  now  rapidly,  but  in  every  case  halting  at 
the  command  and  forming  a  new  line  to  repeat  the  ma 
noeuvres,  and  without  a  semblance  of  panic.  I  verily 
believe  they  would  have  died,  almost  to  a  man,  on  the 
rocks  of  that  rugged  mountain-side,  but  for  the  gracious 
dropping  of  night's  curtain  on  the  scene.  They  did  die, 
nearly  or  quite  half  of  them,  the  next  day  at  Antietam 
or  Sharpsburg.  Still  more  striking  the  contrast— large 
numbers  of  these  Confederates  who  were  overwhelmed 
with  panic  at  Cedar  Creek  fought  upon  the  last  dread 
ful  retreat  from  Petersburg  with  marvellous  intrepidity, 
while  flanked  and  forced  to  move  rapidly  from  one  posi 
tion  to  another.  And  on  that  last  morning  at  Appo- 
mattox  these  same  Confederates  were  fighting  in  almoM 
every  direction,  surrounded  on  all  sides  except  one,  with 
a  column  plainly  in  view  and  advancing  to  complete  the 
circle  of  fire  around  them ;  and  they  continued  to  fight 
bravely  and  grandly  until  the  flag  of  truce  heralded  the 
announcement  that  the  war  was  over. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  SPUING  OF  1862—  BATTLE  OF  SEVEN  PINES  OR 
FAIE  OAKS 

Indomitable  Americanism,  North  and  South  —  Rally  of  the  North  after 
Bull  Run  —  Severity  of  winter  quarters  in  Virginia  —  McClellan's  army 
landed  at  Yorktowii  —  Retreat  of  the  Confederates  —  On  the  Chicka- 
hominy—  Terrible  slaughter  at  Seven  Pines—  A  brigade  commander. 


North  had  lost,  the  South  had  won,  in  the  first 
bloody  battle  of  the  war,  and  all  chances  for  com 
promise  were  obliterated,  if  indeed  they  had  ever  existed. 
The  Northern  army  had  been  defeated  and  driven  back 
beyond  the  Potomac,  but  the  defeat  simply  served  to 
arouse  the  patriotic  people  of  that  section  to  more  de 
termined  effort.  Party  passion  was  buried,  party  lines 
were  almost  entirely  erased,  and  party  organizations 
were  merged  into  the  one  compact  body  of  a  united 
people,  led  by  the  all-pervading  purpose  to  crush  out  the 
Southern  movement  and  save  the  Union.  With  that 
tenacity  of  will,  that  unyielding  Anglo-Saxon  perseve 
rance  —  or,  I  prefer  to  say,  that  indomitable  American 
ism—for  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  so 
justly  famed,  the  North  rose  superior  to  the  disaster,  and 
resolved,  as  did  old  Andrew  Jackson,  that  "the  Union 
should  be  preserved." 

The  South,  on  the  other  hand,  greatly  encouraged  by 
the  victory,  bowed  at  its  altars  and  thanked  Heaven  for 
this  indication  of  ultimate  triumph.  Her  whole  people, 
with  an  equally  tenacious  Americanism,  and  fully  per- 

47 


48    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

suaded  that  the  independent  States,  now  united  under  an 
other  and  similar  Constitution,  had  a  right  to  set  up  their 
own  homogeneous  government,  resolved  that,  if  sacrifices 
and  fighting  could  secure  it,  the  South  should  become  an 
independent  republic.  With  a  deeper  consecration  than 
ever,  if  possible,  they  pledged  anew  to  that  cause  their 
honor,  their  wealth,  their  faith,  their  prayers,  their  lofty 
manhood  and  glorious  womanhood,  resolving  never  to 
yield  as  long  as  hope  or  life  endured.  And  they  did  not 
yield  until  their  whole  section,  "with  its  resources  all 
exhausted,  lay  prostrate  and  powerless,  bleeding  at  every 
pore." 

The  North  soon  rallied  after  the  defeat  at  Bull  Run. 
Her  armies  were  placed  under  the  immediate  command 
of  that  brilliant  young  chieftain,  Greorge  B.  McClellan, 
whose  genius  as  organizer,  ability  as  disciplinarian,  and 
magnetism  in  contact  with  his  men,  rapidly  advanced 
his  heavily  reenforced  army  to  a  high  plane  of  efficiency. 
The  pride  felt  in  him  was  manifested  by  the  title  "  Young 
Napoleon,"  bestowed  upon  him  by  his  admiring  country 
men.  No  advance,  however,  was  made  by  his  army 
until  the  following  spring.  The  Confederate  army, 
under  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  was  occupied  during 
the  remaining  months  of  summer  and  fall,  mainly  in 
drilling,  recruiting  its  ranks,  doing  picket  duty,  and,  as 
winter  approached,  in  gathering  supplies  and  preparing, 
as  far  as  possible,  for  protection  against  Virginia  freezes 
and  snows. 

My  men  were  winter-quartered  in  the  dense  pine 
thickets  on  the  rough  hills  that  border  the  Occoquan. 
Christmas  came,  and  was  to  be  made  as  joyous  as  our 
surroundings  would  permit,  by  a  genuine  Southern  egg- 
nog  with  our  friends.  The  country  was  scoured  far  and 
near  for  eggs,  which  were  exceedingly  scarce.  Of  sugar 
we  still  had  at  that  time  a  reasonable  supply,  but  our 
small  store  of  eggs  and  the  other  ingredients  could  not 


BATTLE   OF   SEVEN   PINES  49 

be  increased  in  all  the  country  round  about.  Mrs.  Gor 
don  superintended  the  preparation  of  this  favorite 
Christmas  beverage,  and  at  last  the  delicious  potion  was 
ready.  All  stood  anxiously  waiting  with  camp  cups  in 
hand.  The  servant  started  toward  the  company  with 
full  and  foaming  bowl,  holding  it  out  before  him  with 
almost  painful  care.  He  had  taken  but  a  few  steps 
when  he  struck  his  toe  against  the  uneven  floor  of  the 
rude  quarters  and  stumbled.  The  scattered  fragments 
of  crockery  and  the  aroma  of  the  wasted  nectar  marked 
the  melancholy  wreck  of  our  Christmas  cheer. 

The  winter  was  a  severe  one  and  the  men  suffered 
greatly— not  only  for  want  of  sufficient  preparation,  but 
because  those  from  farther  South  were  unaccustomed 
to  so  cold  a  climate.  There  was  much  sickness  in  camp. 
It  was  amazing  to  see  the  large  number  of  country  boys 
who  had  never  had  the  measles.  Indeed,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  they  ran  through  the  whole  catalogue  of  com 
plaints  to  which  boyhood  and  even  babyhood  are  sub 
jected.  They  had  everything  almost  except  teething, 
nettle-rash,  and  whooping-cough.  I  rather  think  some  of 
them  were  afflicted  with  this  latter  disease.  Those  wrho 
are  disposed  to  wonder  that  Southern  troops  should 
suffer  so  much  from  a  Virginia  winter  will  better  appre 
ciate  the  occasional  severity  of  that  climate  when  told 
of  the  incident  which  I  now  relate.  General  E.  A.  Alger, 
of  the  Union  army,  ex-Governor  of  Michigan  and  ex- 
Secretary  of  War,  states  that  he  was  himself  on  picket 
duty  in  winter  and  at  night  in  this  same  section  of 
Virginia.  It  was  his  duty  as  officer  in  charge  to  visit 
during  the  night  the  different  picket  posts  and  see  that 
the  men  were  on  the  alert,  so  as  to  avoid  surprises.  It 
was  an  intensely  cold  night,  and  on  one  of  his  rounds,  a 
few  hours  before  daylight,  he  approached  a  post  where 
a  solitary  picket  stood  on  guard.  As  he  neared  the  post 
he  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  that  the  soldier  did  not 


50    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

halt  him  and  force  him  to  give  the  countersign.  He 
could  plainly  see  the  soldier  standing  on  his  post,  lean 
ing  against  a  tree,  and  was  indignant  because  he  sup 
posed  he  had  found  one  of  his  men  asleep  on  duty,  when 
to  remain  awake  and  watchful  was  essential  to  the 
army's  safety.  Walking  up  to  his  man,  he  took  him  by 
the  arm  to  arouse  him  from  sleep  and  place  him  under 
immediate  arrest.  He  was  horrified  to  find  that  the 
sentinel  was  dead.  Frozen,  literally  frozen,  was  this 
faithful  picket,  but  still  standing  at  the  post  of  duty 
where  his  commander  had  placed  him,  his  form  erect 
and  rigid— dead  on  his  post ! 

Even  at  that  early  period  the  Southern  me^i  were 
scantily  clad,  though  we  had  not  then  reached  the 
straits  to  which  we  came  as  the  war  progressed,  and  of 
which  a  simple-hearted  countrywoman  gave  an  approxi 
mate  conception  when  she  naively  explained  that  her 
son's  only  pair  of  socks  did  not  wear  out,  because  "  when 
the  feet  of  the  socks  got  full  of  holes  I  just  knitted  new 
feet  to  the  tops,  and  when  the  tops  wore  out  I  just 
knitted  new  tops  to  the  feet." 

This  remarkable  deficiency  in  heavy  clothing  among 
the  Southern  troops  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  is 
easily  explained.  We  were  an  agricultural  people.  Farm 
ing  or  planting  was  fairly  remunerative  and  brought 
comfort,  with  not  only  financial  but  personal  indepen 
dence,  which  induced  a  large  majority  of  our  population 
to  cling  to  rural  life  and  its  delightful  occupations. 
Little  attention,  comparatively,  was  paid  to  mining  or 
manufacturing.  The  railroads  were  constructed  through 
cotton  belts  rather  than  through  coal-  and  iron-fields. 
There  were  some  factories  for  the  manufacture  of  cloth, 
but  these  were  mainly  engaged  upon  cotton  fabrics,  and 
those  which  produced  woollens  or  heavy  goods  were  few 
and  of  limited  capacity.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  this  situ 
ation,  with  small  milling  facilities,  with  great  armies  on 


BATTLE   OF   SEVEN   PINES  51 

our  hands,  and  our  ports  closed  against  foreign  impor 
tations,  we  were  reduced  to  the  dangerous  extremity  of 
blockade-running,  and  to  the  still  more  hazardous  con 
tingency  of  capturing  now  and  then  overcoats  and  trou 
sers  from  the  Union  forces. 

Perhaps  the  utter  lack  of  preparation  for  the  war  on 
the  part  of  the  South  is  proof  that  its  wisest  statesmen 
anticipated  no  such  stupendous  struggle  as  ensued. 
After  the  inauguration  of  the  government  at  Montgom 
ery,  the  Confederacy  could  have  purchased  the  entire 
cotton  crop — practically  every  bale  left  in  the  Southern 
States  at  that  season— with  Confederate  bonds  or  with 
Confederate  currency.  The  people,  as  a  rule,  had  abso 
lute  faith  in  the  success  and  stability  of  the  government. 
Thoughtful  business  men  took  the  bonds  as  an  invest 
ment.  Careful  and  conscientious  guardians  sold  the 
property  of  minors  and  invested  the  proceeds  in  Con 
federate  bonds.  If,  therefore,  Southern  statesmen  had 
believed  that  the  Northern  people  would  with  practical 
unanimity  back  the  United  States  Government  in  a  vig 
orous  and  determined  war  to  prevent  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Southern  States,  those  able  men  who  led  the  South 
w^ould  undoubtedly  have  sought  to  place  the  Confeder 
acy  in  control  of  the  cotton  then  on  hand,  and  of  suc 
ceeding  crops.  It  will  be  readily  seen  what  an  enormous 
financial  strength  would  have  been  thus  acquired,  and 
what  a  basis  for  negotiations  abroad  would  have  been 
furnished.  When  the  price  of  cotton  rose  to  twenty-five, 
forty,  fifty  cents  per  pound  (it  was  worth,  I  think,  over 
ninety  cents  per  pound  at  one  time),  a  navy  for  the  Con 
federate  Government  could  have  been  purchased  strong 
enough  to  have  broken,  by  concentrated  effort,  the 
blockade  of  almost  any  port  on  the  Southern  coast,  thus 
admitting  arms,  ammunition,  clothing,  tents,  and  medi 
cine,  which  would  have  largely  increased  the  efficiency 
of  the  Confederate  armies. 


52    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

At  last  after  the  winter  months,  each  one  of  which 
seemed  to  us  almost  a  year,  the  snows  on  the  Occo- 
quan  melted.  The  buds  began  to  swell,  the  dogwood 
to  blossom,  and  the  wild  onions,  which  the  men  gathered 
by  the  bushel  and  ate,  began  to  shed  their  pungent  odor 
on  the  soft  warm  air.  With  the  spring  came  also  the 
marching  and  the  fighting.  General  McClellan  landed 
his  splendid  army  at  Yorktown,  and  threatened  Rich 
mond  from  the  Virginia  peninsula.  The  rush  then  came 
to  relieve  from  capture  the  small  force  of  General 
Magruder  and  to  confront  General  McClellan's  army  at 
his  new  base  of  operations.  Striking  camp  and  moving 
to  the  nearest  depot,  we  were  soon  on  the  wTay  to  York- 
town.  The  long  trains  packed  with  their  living  Confed 
erate  freight  were  hurried  along  with  the  utmost  possible 
speed.  As  the  crowded  train  upon  which  I  sat  rushed 
under  full  head  of  steam  down  grade  on  this  single  track, 
it  was  met  by  another  train  of  empty  cars  flying  with 
great  speed  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  crash  of  the 
fearful  collision  and  its  harrowing  results  are  inde 
scribable.  Nearly  every  car  on  the  densely  packed  train 
was  telescoped  and  torn  in  pieces ;  and  men,  knapsacks, 
arms,  and  shivered  seats  were  hurled  to  the  front  and 
piled  in  horrid  mass  against  the  crushed  timbers  and 
ironwork.  Many  were  killed,  many  maimed  for  life, 
and  the  marvel  is  that  any  escaped  unhurt.  Mrs.  Gor 
don,  who  was  with  me  on  this  ill-fated  train,  was  saved, 
by  a  merciful  Providence,  without  the  slightest  in 
jury.  Her  hands  were  busied  with  the  wounded,  while 
I  superintended  the  cutting  away  of  debris  to  rescue  the 
maimed  and  remove  the  dead. 

From  Yorktown  it  was  the  Confederates'  time  to  re 
treat,  and  it  was  a  retreat  to  the  very  gates  of  Rich 
mond.  General  Johnston,  however,  like  a  lion  pursued 
to  his  den,  turned  upon  McClellan,  when  there,  with  a 
tremendous  bound. 


BATTLE   OF   SEVEN  PINES  53 

On  that  memorable  retreat  it  was  my  fortune  for  a 
time  to  bring  up  the  rear.  The  roads  were  in  horrible 
condition.  In  the  mud  and  slush  and  deep  ruts  cut  by 
the  wagon-trains  and  artillery  of  the  retreating  army,  a 
number  of  heavy  guns  became  bogged  and  the  horses 
were  unable  to  drag  them.  My  men,  weary  with  the 
march  and  belonging  to  a  different  arm  of  the  service, 
of  course  felt  that  it  was  a  trying  position  to  be  com 
pelled  to  halt  and  attempt  to  move  this  artillery,  with 
the  Union  advance  pressing  so  closely  upon  them.  But 
they  were  tugging  with  good  grace  when  I  rode  up  from 
the  extreme  rear.  An  extraordinary  effort,  however,  was 
required  to  save  the  guns.  As  I  dismounted  from  my 
horse  and  waded  into  the  deep  mud  and  called  on  them 
to  save  the  artillery,  they  raised  a  shout  and  crowded 
around  the  wheels.  Not  a  gun  or  caisson  was  lost,  and 
there  was  never  again  among  those  brave  men  a  mo 
ment's  hesitation  about  leaping  into  the  mud  and  water 
whenever  it  became  necessary  on  any  account. 

At  another  time  on  this  march  I  found  one  of  my 
youngest  soldiers— he  was  a  mere  lad— lying  on  the 
roadside,  weeping  bitterly.  I  asked  him  what  was  the 
matter.  He  explained  that  his  feet  were  so  sore  that  he 
could  not  walk  any  farther  and  that  he  knew  he  would 
be  captured.  His  feet  were  in  a  dreadful  condition.  I 
said  to  him,  "  You  shall  not  be  captured,"  and  ordered 
him  to  mount  my  horse  and  ride  forward  until  he  could 
get  into  an  ambulance  or  wagon,  and  to  tell  the  quarter 
master  to  send  my  horse  back  to  me  as  soon  as  possible. 
He  wiped  his  eyes,  got  into  my  saddle,  and  rode  a  few 
rods  to  where  the  company  of  which  he  was  a  member 
had  halted  to  rest.  He  stopped  his  horse  in  front  of  his 
comrades,  who  were  sitting  for  the  moment  on  the  road 
side,  and  straightening  himself  up,  he  lifted  his  old 
slouch-hat  with  all  the  dignity  of  a  commander-in-chief 
and  called  out:  "Attention,  men!  I  7m  about  to  bid 


54    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

you  farewell,  and  I  want  to  tell  you  before  I  go  that  I 
am  very  sorry  for  you.  I  was  poor  once  myself ! " 
Having  thus  delivered  himself,  he  galloped  away,  bow 
ing  and  waving  his  hat  to  his  comrades  in  acknowledg 
ment  of  the  cheers  with  which  they  greeted  him. 

After  a  few  hours'  pause  and  a  brief  but  sharp  engage 
ment  at  Williamsburg,  General  Johnston  continued  his 
retreat  to  his  new  lines  near  the  city  of  Richmond.  On 
the  banks  of  the  Chickahominy,  if  the  Chickahominy 
can  be  said  to  have  banks,  both  armies  prepared  for  the 
desperate  struggles  which  were  soon  to  follow  and  decide 
the  fate  of  the  Confederate  capital.  "  On  the  Chicka 
hominy  !  "  Whatever  emotions  these  words  may  awaken 
in  others,  they  bring  to  me  some  of  the  saddest  memories 
of  those  four  years,  in  which  were  crowded  the  experi 
ences  of  an  ordinary  lifetime.  Standing  on  picket  posts  in 
the  dreary  darkness  and  sickening  dampness  of  its  mias 
matic  swamps,  hurrying  to  the  front  through  the  slush 
and  bogs  that  bordered  it,  fighting  hip-deep  in  its  turbid 
waters,  I  can  see  now  the  faces  of  those  brave  men  who 
never  faltered  at  a  command,  whatever  fate  obedience  to 
it  might  involve. 

During  the  weary  days  and  nights  preceding  these 
battles,  the  Southern  troops,  as  they  returned  from  out 
post  duty,  kept  the  camp  in  roars  of  laughter  with  sol 
dier  "yarns"  about  their  experiences  at  night  at  the 
front:  how  one  man,  relieved  temporarily  from  guard 
duty  by  his  comrade  of  the  next  relief,  lay  down  on  a 
log  to  catch  a  brief  nap,  and  dreaming  that  he  was  at 
home  in  his  little  bed,  turned  himself  over  and  fell  off 
the  log  into  the  water  at  its  side;  how  another,  whose 
imagination  had  been  impressed  by  his  surroundings, 
made  the  outpost  hideous  with  his  frog-like  croaking  or 
snoring;  and  so  on  in  almost  endless  variety.  I  recall 
one  private  who  had  a  genius  for  drawing,  and  whose 
imaginative,  clever  caricatures  afforded  much  amuse- 


BATTLE   OF   SEVEN  PINES  55 

ment  in  camp.  He  would  represent  this  or  that  com 
rade  with  a  frog-like  face  and  the  body  and  legs  of  a 
frog,  standing  in  the  deep  water,  with  knapsack  high  up 
on  his  back,  his  gun  in  one  hand  and  a  "johnny-cake" 
in  the  other — the  title  below  it  being  Bill  or  Bob  or  Jake 
"on  picket  in  the  Chickahominy."  A  characteristic  story 
is  told  of  a  mess  that  was  formed,  with  the  most  re- 
^markable  regulations  or  by-laws.  The  men  were  to  draw 
straws  to  ascertain  who  should  be  the  cook.  The  by 
laws  further  provided  that  the  party  thus  designated 
should  continue  to  cook  for  the  mess  until  some  one 
complained  of  his  cooking,  whereupon  the  man  who 
made  the  first  complaint  should  at  once  be  initiated  into 
the  office  and  the  former  incumbent  relieved.  Of 
course,  with  this  chance  of  escape  before  him,  a  cook  had 
no  great  incentive  to  perfect  himself  in  the  culinary  art. 
The  first  cook  was  not  long  in  forcing  a  complaint. 
Calling  his  mess  to  supper  spread  on  an  oil-cloth  in  the 
little  tent,  he  confidently  awaited  the  result.  One  after 
another  tasted  and  quickly  withdrew  from  the  repast. 
One  member,  who  was  very  hungry  and  outraged  at  the 
character  of  the  food,  asked :  "Joe,  what  do  you  call  this 
stuff,  anyhow!" 

"  That  ?  Why,  that 's  pie,"  said  Joe.  "  Well,"  replied  the 
hungry  member,  "if  you  call  that  pie,  all  I  've  got  to  say 
is,  it  ?s  the est  pie  that  I  ever  tasted." 

Then,  suddenly  remembering  that  the  penalty  for  com 
plaining  was  to  take  Joe's  place,  he  quickly  added,  "But 
it 's  all  right,  Joe ;  I  like  it,  but  I  am  not  hungry  to 
night."  This  after-thought  came  too  late,  however.  The 
by-laws  were  inflexible,  and  Joe's  supper  had  won  his 
freedom.  The  poor  complainant  whose  indignant  stom 
ach  had  slaughtered  his  prudence  was  quietly  but 
promptly  inducted  into  the  position  of  chef  for  the  mess. 

Whatever  rank  may  be  assigned  in  history  to  the 
battle  of  Seven  Pines,  or  Fair  Oaks,  as  the  Union  men 


56    REMINISCENCES   OF   TH£   CIVIL    WAR 

call  it,  it  was  to  my  regiment  one  of  the  bloodiest  of  my 
war  experience.  Hurled,  in  the  early  morning,  against 
the  breastworks  which  protected  that  portion  of  McClel- 
lan's  lines,  niy  troops  swept  over  and  captured  them,  but 
at  heavy  cost.  As  I  spurred  my  horse  over  the  works 
with  my  men,  my  adjutant,  who  rode  at  my  side,  fell 
heavily  with  his  horse  down  the  embankment,  and  both 
were  killed.  Reforming  my  men  under  a  galling  fire,  and 
ordering  them  forward  in  another  charge  upon  the  sup 
porting  lines,  which  fought  with  the  most  stubborn  re 
sistance,  disputing  every  foot  of  ground,  I  soon  found 
that  Lieutenant-Colonel  Willingham,  as  gallant  a  soldier 
as  ever  rode  through  fire  and  who  was  my  helper  on  the 
right,  had  also  been  killed  and  his  horse  with  him. 
Major  Nesmith,  whose  towering  form  I  could  still  see  on 
the  left,  was  riding  abreast  of  the  men  and  shouting  in 
trumpet  tones :  "  Forward,  men,  forward !  "  but  a  ball 
soon  silenced  his  voice  forever.  Lieutenant-colonel, 
major,  adjutant,  with  their  horses,  were  all  dead,  and  I 
was  left  alone  on  horseback,  with  my  men  dropping 
rapidly  around  me.  My  soldiers  declared  that  they 
distinctly  heard  the  command  from  the  Union  lines, 
"  Shoot  that  man  on  horseback."  In  both  armies  it  was 
thought  that  the  surest  way  to  demoralize  troops  was  to 
shoot  down  the  officers.  Nearly  or  quite  half  the  line 
officers  of  the  twelve  companies  had  by  this  time  fallen, 
dead  or  wounded.  General  Rodes,  the  superb  brigade- 
commander,  had  been  disabled.  Still  I  had  marvellously 
escaped,  with  only  my  clothing  pierced.  As  I  rode  up 
and  down  my  line,  encouraging  the  men  forward,  I 
passed  my  young  brother,  only  nineteen  years  old,  but 
captain  of  one  of  the  companies.  He  was  lying  with  a 
number  of  dead  companions  near  him.  He  had  been 
shot  through  the  lungs  and  was  bleeding  profusely.  I 
did  not  stop ;  I  could  not  stop,  nor  would  he  permit  me  to 
stop.  There  was  no  time  for  that— no  time  for  anything 


BATTLE    OF   SEVEN  PINES  57 

except  to  move  on  and  fire  on.  At  this  time  my  own 
horse,  the  only  one  left,  was  killed.  He  could,  however, 
have  been  of  little  service  to  me  any  longer,  for  in  the 
edge  of  this  flooded  swamp  heavy  timber  had  been 
felled,  making  an  abatis  quite  impassable  on  horseback, 
and  I  should  have  been  compelled  to  dismount.  McClel- 
lan's  men  were  slowly  being  pressed  back  into  and  through 
the  Chickahominy  swamp,  which  was  filled  with  water ; 
but  at  almost  every  step  they  were  pouring  terrific  vol- 
lies  into  my  lines.  My  regiment  had  been  in  some 
way  separated  from  the  brigade,  and  at  this  juncture 
seemed  to  reach  the  climax  of  extremities.  My  field 
officers  and  adjutant  were  all  dead.  Every  horse  ridden 
into  the  fight,  my  own  among  them,  was  dead.  Fully 
one  half  of  my  line  officers  and  half  my  men  were  dead 
or  wounded.  A  furious  fire  still  poured  from  the  front, 
and  reinforcements  were  nowhere  in  sight.  The  brigade- 
commander  was  disabled,  and  there  was  no  horse  or 
means  at  hand  of  communication  with  his  headquarters 
or  any  other  headquarters,  except  by  one  of  my  soldiers 
on  foot,  and  the  chances  ten  to  one  against  his  living  to 
bear  my  message.  In  water  from  knee-  to  hip-  deep,  the 
men  were  fighting  and  falling,  while  a  detail  propped  up 
the  wounded  against  stumps  or  trees  to  prevent  their 
drowning.  Fresh  troops  in  blue  were  moving  to  my 
right  flank  and  pouring  a  raking  fire  down  my  line,  and 
compelling  me  to  change  front  with  my  companies  there. 
In  ordering  Captain  Bell,  whom  I  had  placed  in  command 
of  that  portion  of  my  line,  I  directed  that  he  should  beat 
back  that  flanking  force  at  any  cost.  This  faithful  officer 
took  in  at  a  glance  the  whole  situation,  and,  with  a  cour 
age  that  never  was  and  never  will  be  surpassed,  he  and  his 
Spartan  band  fought  until  he  and  nearly  all  his  men  were 
killed;  and  the  small  remnant,  less  than  one  fifth  of  the 
number  carried  into  the  battle,  were  fighting  still  when 
the  order  came  at  last  for  me  to  withdraw.  Even  in  the 


58    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

withdrawal  there  was  no  confusion,  no  precipitancy. 
Slowly  moving  back,  carrying  their  wounded  comrades 
with  them,  and  firing  as  they  moved,  these  shattered 
remnants  of  probably  the  largest  regiment  in  the  army 
took  their  place  in  line  with  the  brigade. 

The  losses  were  appalling.  All  the  field  officers  except 
myself  had  been  killed.  Of  forty-four  officers  of  the 
line,  but  thirteen  were  left  for  duty.  Nearly  two  thirds 
of  the  entire  command  were  killed  or  wounded.  My 
young  brother,  Captain  Augustus  Gordon,  who  had  been 
shot  through  the  lungs,  was  carried  back  with  the 
wounded.  He  recovered,  and  won  rapid  promotion  by 
his  high  soldierly  qualities,  but  fell  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment  in  the  Wilderness  with  his  face  to  the  front,  a 
grape-shot  having  penetrated  his  breast  at  almost  the 
same  spot  where  he  had  been  formerly  struck. 

The  disabling  of  General  Eodes  left  the  brigade  tem 
porarily  without  a  commander ;  but  movement  was  suc 
ceeding  movement  and  battle  following  battle  so  rapidly 
that  some  one  had  to  be  placed  in  command  at  once. 
This  position  fell  to  my  lot.  It  was  not  only  unex 
pected,  but  unwelcome  and  extremely  embarrassing ;  for, 
of  all  the  regimental  commanders  in  the  brigade,  I  was 
the  junior  in  commission  and  far  the  youngest  in  years. 
My  hesitation  became  known  to  my  brother  officers. 
With  entire  unanimity  and  a  generosity  rarely  witnessed 
in  any  sphere  of  life,  they  did  everything  in  their  power 
to  lessen  my  embarrassment  and  uphold  my  hands.  No 
young  man  with  grave  responsibilities  suddenly  placed 
upon  him  ever  had  more  constant  or  more  efficient  sup 
port  than  was  given  to  me  by  these  noble  men. 

I  close  this  chapter  by  quoting  a  few  sentences  penned 
after  the  battle  by  Major  John  Sutherland  Lewis  in  ref 
erence  to  the  terrific  strain  upon  Mrs.  Gordon's  sensi 
bilities  as  she  sat  in  sound  of  that  battle's  roar.  Major 
Lewis  was  Mrs.  Gordon's  uncle,  an  elderly  gentleman  of 


BATTLE    OF    SEVEN    PINES  59 

rare  accomplishments.  As  he  was  without  a  family  of 
his  own,  and  was  devoted  to  his  niece,  he  naturally 
watched  over  her  with  the  tender  solicitude  of  a  father, 
when  it  was  possible  for  him  to  be  near  her  during  the 
war.  He  died  in  very  old  age  some  years  after  the 
close  of  hostilities,  but  he  left  behind  him  touching  trib 
utes  to  his  cherished  niece,  with  whose  remarkable  ad 
ventures  he  was  familiar,  and  whose  fortitude  had 
amazed  and  thrilled  him.  I  quote  only  a  few  sentences 
from  his  pen  in  this  connection : 

The  battle  in  which  Mrs.  Gordon's  husband  was  then  engaged 
was  raging  near  the  city  with  great  fury.  The  cannonade  was 
rolling  around  the  horizon  like  some  vast  earthquake  on  huge 
crashing  wheels.  Whether  the  threads  of  wedded  sympathy 
were  twisted  more  closely  as  the  tremendous  perils  gathered 
around  him,  it  was  evident  that  her  anxiety  became  more  and 
more  intense  with  each  passing  moment.  She  asked  me  to  ac 
company  her  to  a  hill  a  short  distance  away.  There  she  lis 
tened  in  silence.  Pale  and  quiet,  with  clasped  hands,  she  sat 
statue-like,  with  her  face  toward  the  field  of  battle.  Her  self- 
control  was  wonderful ;  only  the  quick-drawn  sigh  from  the 
bottom  of  the  heart  revealed  the  depth  of  emotion  that  was 
struggling  there.  The  news  of  her  husband's  safety  afterward 
and  the  joy  of  meeting  him  later  produced  the  inevitable  reac 
tion.  The  intensity  of  mental  strain  to  which  she  had  been 
subjected  had  overtasked  her  strength,  and  when  the  exces 
sive  tension  was  relaxed  she  was  well-nigh  prostrated;  but  a 
brief  repose  enabled  her  to  bear  up  with  a  sublime  fortitude 
through  the  protracted  and  trying  experiences  which  followed 
the  seven  days'  battles  around  Richmond. 


CHAPTER  V 

PRESENTIMENTS  AND  FATALISM  AMONG  SOLDIERS 

Wonderful  instances  of  prophetic  foresight— Colonel  Lomax  predicts 
his  death— The  vision  of  a  son  dying  two  days  before  it  happened— 
General  Ramseur's  furlough— Colonel  Augustus  Gordon's  calm  an 
nouncement  of  his  death— Instances  of  misplaced  fatalism  — General 
D.  H.  Hill's  indifference  to  danger. 

AT  the  time  of  this  battle  I  had  brought  to  my  imme 
diate  knowledge,  for  the  first  time,  one  of  those 
strange  presentiments  or  revelations,  whatever  they 
may  be  called,  which  so  often  came  to  soldiers  of  both 
armies.  Colonel  Tennant  Lomax,  of  Alabama,  was  one 
of  the  leading  citizens  of  that  State.  He  was  a  man  of 
recognized  ability  and  the  most  exalted  character.  With 
a  classic  face  and  superb  form,  tall,  erect,  and  command 
ing,  he  would  have  been  selected  among  a  thousand  men 
as  the  ideal  soldier.  His  very  presence  commanded  re 
spect  and  inspired  confidence.  None  who  knew  him 
doubted  his  certain  promotion  to  high  command  if  his 
life  were  spared.  The  very  embodiment  of  chivalry,  he 
was  among  the  first  to  respond  to  the  call  to  arms,  and, 
alas !  he  was  among  the  earliest  martyrs  to  the  cause  he 
so  promptly  espoused.  As  he  rode  into  the  storm  of 
lead,  he  turned  to  me  and  said :  "  Give  me  your  hand, 
Gordon,  and  let  me  bid  you  good-by.  I  am  going  to  be 
killed  in  this  battle.  I  shall  be  dead  in  half  an  hour." 
I  endeavored  to  remove  this  impression  from  his  mind, 
but  nothing  I  could  say  changed  or  appeared  to  modify 

60 


PRESENTIMENTS   AMONG  SOLDIERS     61 

it  in  any  degree.  I  was  grieved  to  have  him  go  into  the 
fight  with  such  a  burden  upon  him,  but  there  was  no 
tremor  in  his  voice,  no  hesitation  in  his  words,  no  doubt 
on  his  mind.  The  genial  smile  that  made  his  face  so 
attractive  was  still  upon  it,  but  he  insisted  that  he  would 
be  dead  in  half  an  hour,  and  that  it  was  "  all  right." 
The  half -hour  had  scarcely  passed  when  the  fatal  bullet 
had  numbered  him  with  the  dead. 

Doubtless  there  were  many  of  these  presentiments 
which  were  misleading,  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
those  which  were  never  realized  were  not  such  clear  per 
ceptions  of  coming  fate  as  in  this  case.  They  were  prob 
ably  the  natural  and  strong  apprehensions  which  any 
man  is  liable  to  feel,  indeed  must  feel  if  he  is  a  reason 
able  being,  as  he  goes  into  a  consuming  fire.  There 
were  many  cases,  however,  which  seemed  veritable  vi 
sions  into  futurity. 

General  J.  Warren  Keifer,  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  a 
prominent  Union  officer  in  the  war  between  the  States 
and  Major-General  of  Volunteers  in  the  recent  war  with 
Spain,  gave  me  in  a  letter  of  January  18,  1898,  an  ac 
count  of  the  accurate  predictions  made  by  two  of  his 
officers  as  to  approaching  death.  The  first  case  was  that 
of  Colonel  Aaron  W.  Ebright,  of  the  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-sixth  Ohio  Regiment,  who  was  killed  at  Opequan, 
Virginia,  September  19,  1864.  General  Keifer  encloses 
me  this  memorandum,  written  at  some  previous  date : 

Colonel  Ebright  had  a  premonition  of  his  death.  A  few  mo 
ments  before  12  M.  lie  sought  me,  and  coolly  told  me  he  would 
be  killed  before  the  battle  ended.  He  insisted  upon  telling  me 
that  he  wanted  his  remains  and  effects  sent  to  his  home  in  Lan 
caster,  Ohio,  and  I  was  asked  to  write  his  wife  as  to  some  prop 
erty  in  the  West  which  he  feared  she  did  not  know  about.  He 
was  impatient  when  I  tried  to  remove  the  thought  of  imminent 
death  from  his  mind.  A  few  moments  later  the  time  for  another 
advance  came  and  the  interview  with  Colonel  Ebright  closed 


62    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

In  less  than  ten  minutes,  while  he  was  riding  near  me,  he  fell 
dead  from  his  horse,  pierced  in  the  breast  by  a  rifle-ball.  His 
apprehension  of  death  was  not  prompted  by  fear.  He  had  been 
through  the  slaughters  of  the  Wilderness  and  Cold  Harbor,  had 
fought  his  regiment  in  the  dead-angle  of  Spottsylvania,  and  led 
it  at  Monocacy.  It  is  needless  to  say  I  complied  with  his 
request. 

Another  remarkable  presentiment  to  which  General 
Keifer  has  called  my  attention  was  that  of  Captain 
William  A.  Hathaway,  who  served  on  General  Keifer's 
staff  as  assistant  adjutant-general.  At  Monocacy,  Mary 
land,  July  9,  1864,  where  my  division  did  the  bulk  of 
the  fighting  for  the  Confederates,  Captain  Hathaway  as 
sured  his  brother  officers  of  the  certainty  of  his  early 
death.  Turning  a  deaf  ear  to  their  efforts  to  drive  the 
presentiment  from  his  mind,  he  rode  bravely  into  the 
storm,  and  fell  at  almost  the  first  deadly  volley. 

Colonel  Warren  Akin  was  one  of  Georgia's  leading 
lawyers  before  the  war.  He  was  a  Whig  and  a  Union 
man  and  opposed  to  secession,  but  followed  his  State 
when  she  left  the  Union.  Although  he  was  neither  by 
profession  nor  practice  a  politician,  his  recognized  abil 
ity,  and  the  universal  confidence  of  the  people  in  his  in 
tegrity  as  well  as  in  his  fidelity  to  every  trust,  caused  his 
power  to  be  felt  in  the  State,  and  led  a  great  political 
party  to  nominate  him  before  the  war  as  candidate  for 
governor.  Few  men  of  his  day  were  better  known  or  more 
loved  and  respected.  He  was  a  Christian  without  cant, 
and  his  courage,  while  conspicuous,  had  in  it  none  of  the 
elements  of  wanton  recklessness.  He  was  a  thoughtful, 
brave,  and  balanced  man.  In  1861  and  1863  he  was 
Speaker  of  the  Georgia  House  of  Representatives.  Dur 
ing  the  remainder  of  the  war  he  was  a  member  from 
Georgia  of  the  Confederate  House  of  Representatives, 
where  he  was  an  ardent  and  faithful  champion  of  Presi 
dent  Davis  and  his  administration. 


PRESENTIMENTS  AMONG  SOLDIERS     63 

A  revelation  or  soul- sight  so  strange  and  true  came  to 
him  shortly  before  Lee's  surrender  that  it  seems  neces 
sary  to  accompany  its  insertion  here  by  this  hasty 
analysis  of  his  exalted  mental  and  moral  characteristics. 
Just  before  day  on  the  morning  of  February  8,  1865, 
while  in  Richmond,  he  had  a  vision — whether  an  actual 
dream  or  some  inexplicable  manifestation  akin  thereto 
he  never  knew.  In  this  vision  he  saw  his  eldest  son 
lying  on  his  back  at  the  foot  of  a  chinaberry-tree  on 
the  sidewalk  in  front  of  the  home  he  then  occupied  in 
Elberton,  Georgia,  his  head  in  a  pool  of  blood.  He  ran 
to  him,  found  him  not  dead  but  speechless  and  uncon 
scious,  raised  him  up  by  his  left  hand,  and  the  blood  ran 
out  of  his  right  ear.  With  a  start,  Colonel  Akin  came 
to  full  consciousness,  inexpressibly  disturbed.  He  imme 
diately  decided  to  leave  for  home,  telegraphic  communi 
cation  being  cut  off.  But  in  a  few  minutes  he  received 
a  cheerful  letter  from  his  wife,  stating  that  all  were  well, 
and  this  reassured  him.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  second 
day  after,  this  son  was  thrown  from  a  horse  against  this 
same  chinaberry-tree,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  lay,  uncon 
scious  and  speechless;  and  a  neighbor,  seeing  him  fall, 
ran  up  to  him,  grasped  him  by  his  left  hand,  and  lifted 
him  from  the  pool  of  blood  which  ran  from  his  right  ear. 
On  the  third  day  after  the  boy  died,  unconscious  to  the 
end.  Colonel  Akin  knew  nothing  of  his  death  until 
about  three  weeks  later,  no  intelligence  of  the  sad  event 
reaching  him  sooner  because  of  interrupted  mails.  Thus 
happened,  two  days  after  he  foresaw  it,  a  tragedy  which 
from  its  nature  was  wholly  unexpected,  and  which  oc 
curred  in  minutest  detail  exactly  as  Colonel  Akin  had 
seen  it  in  his  vision  of  the  night. 

Major-General  Ramseur,  of  North  Carolina,  was  an 
officer  whose  record  was  equalled  by  few  in  the  Confed 
erate  army.  He  had  won  his  major-general's  stars  and 
wreath  by  his  notable  efficiency  on  the  march  and  in  the 


64    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

camp,  as  well  as  in  battle.  Of  the  men  of  high  rank  in 
the  army  with  whom  I  was  intimately  associated,  none 
were  further  removed  from  superstition  or  vain  and 
unreal  fancies.  He  had  been  married  since  the  war  be 
gan,  and  there  had  been  born  to  him,  at  his  home  in 
North  Carolina,  a  son  whom  he  had  never  seen.  On  the 
night  preceding  the  great  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  the 
corps  which  I  commanded,  and  in  which  he  commanded 
a  division,  was  filing  slowly  and  cautiously  in  the  darkness 
along  the  dim  and  almost  impassable  trail  around  the 
point,  and  just  over  the  dangerous  precipices  of  Mas- 
sanutten  Mountain.  General  Ramseur  and  I  sat  on  the 
bluff  overlooking  the  field  on  which  he  was  soon  to  lay 
down  his  life.  He  talked  most  tenderly  and  beautifully 
of  his  wife  and  baby  boy,  whom  he  so  longed  to  see. 
Finally,  a  little  before  dawn,  the  last  soldier  of  the  last 
division  had  passed  the  narrow  defile,  and  the  hour  for 
the  advance  upon  the  Union  forces  had  arrived.  As 
General  Ramseur  was  ready  to  ride  into  battle  at  the 
head  of  his  splendid  division,  he  said  to  me,  "Well, 
general,  I  shall  get  my  furlough  to-day."  I  did  not 
know  what  he  meant.  I  did  not  ask  what  he  meant. 
It  was  not  a  time  for  questions.  But  speedily  the  mes 
sage  came,  and  his  furlough  was  granted.  It  came  not 
by  mail  or  wire  from  the  War  Department  at  Richmond, 
but  from  the  blue  lines  in  his  front,  flying  on  the  bullet's 
wing.  The  chivalric  soldier,  the  noble-hearted  gentle 
man,  the  loving  husband,  had  been  furloughed — forever 
furloughed  from  earth's  battles  and  cares. 

My  younger  brother,  Augustus  Gordon,  captain  and 
later  lieutenant-colonel,  furnished  another  illustration  of 
this  remarkable  foresight  of  approaching  death.  Brave 
and  lovable,  a  modest  though  brilliant  young  soldier,  he 
was  rapidly  winning  his  way  to  distinction.  A  youth  of 
scarcely  twenty-one  years,  he  was  in  command  of  the 
Sixth  Regiment  of  Alabama.  Before  going  into  the  fight 


PRESENTIMENTS  AMONG  SOLDIERS    65 

in  the  Wilderness,  he  quietly  said :  "My  hour  has  come." 
I  joked  and  chided  him.  I  told  him  that  he  must  not 
permit  such  impressions  to  affect  or  take  hold  upon  his 
imagination.  He  quickly  and  firmly  replied :  "  You  need 
not  doubt  me.  I  will  be  at  my  post.  But  this  is  our  last 
meeting."  Riding  at  the  head  of  his  regiment,  with  his 
sword  above  him,  the  fire  of  battle  in  his  eye  and  words 
of  cheer  for  his  men  on  his  lips,  the  fatal  grape-shot 
plunged  through  his  manly  heart,  and  the  noble  youth 
slept  his  last  sleep  in  that  woful  Wilderness. 

It  would  require  a  volume  simply  to  record  without 
comment  the  hundreds  of  such  presentiments  in  both 
the  Union  and  Confederate  armies  during  the  war.  The 
few  here  noted  will  suffice,  however,  to  raise  the  inquiry 
as  to  what  they  meant.  Who  shall  furnish  a  satisfactory 
solution!  What  were  these  wonderful  presentiments  1 
They  were  not  the  outpourings  of  a  disordered  brain. 
They  came  from  minds  thoroughly  balanced,  clear  and 
strong— minds  which  worked  with  the  precision  of  per 
fect  machinery,  even  amid  the  excitement  and  fury  of 
battle.  They  were  not  the  promptings  of  an  unmanly 
fear  of  danger  or  apprehension  of  death;  for  no  men 
ever  faced  both  danger  and  death  with  more  absolute 
self -poise,  sublimer  courage,  or  profounder  consecration. 
Nor  were  these  presentiments  mere  speculations  as  to 
chances.  They  were  perceptions.  There  was  about 
them  no  element  of  speculation.  Their  conspicuous 
characteristic  was  certainty.  The  knowledge  seemed  so 
firmly  fixed  that  no  argument  as  to  possible  mistake,  no 
persuasion,  could  shake  it.  Where  did  that  knowledge 
come  from  7  It  seems  to  me  there  can  be  but  one  answer? 
and  that  answer  is  another  argument  for  immortality. 
It  was  the  whispering  of  the  Infinite  beyond  us  to 
the  Infinite  within  us— a  whispering  inaudible  to  the 
natural  ear,  but  louder  than  the  roar  of  battle  to  the 
spirit  that  heard  it. 


66    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

There  was  another  class  of  soldiers  who  had  a  sort  of 
blind  faith  in  their  own  invulnerability ;  but  it  differed 
wholly,  radically,  from  the  presentiments  which  I  am 
considering.  Several  of  these  cases  came  also  under  my 
immediate  observation.  In  one  case,  this  blind  faith,  as 
I  term  it,  was  the  result  of  long  army  experience  of  the 
man  whose  remarkable  escape  from  wounds  in  several 
wars  had  left  upon  his  mind  its  natural  effect.  In  an 
other  case  it  was  a  highly  developed  belief  in  the  doctrine 
of  predestination,  which  gave  great  comfort  to  its  pos 
sessor,  adding  to  the  courage  that  was  inherent  in  him 
another  element  which  rendered  him  indifferent,  appar 
ently,  to  exposure  to  fire  or  protection  from  it. 

The  first  illustration  was  that  of  a  soldier  under  my  com 
mand— Vickers  of  the  Sixth  Alabama  Regiment.  There 
was  no  better  soldier  in  either  army  than  Yickers.  He 
had  passed  unscathed  through  two  previous  wars,  in 
Mexico,  I  believe,  and  in  Nicaragua.  He  was  in  every 
battle  with  his  regiment  in  our  Civil  War  until  his  death, 
and  always  at  the  front.  The  greater  the  danger,  the 
higher  his  spirits  seemed  to  soar.  The  time  came,  how 
ever,  when  his  luck,  or  fate,  in  whose  fickle  favor  he  so 
implicitly  trusted,  deserted  him.  At  Antietam  —  Sharps- 
burg —  I  called  for  some  one  who  was  willing  to  take 
the  desperate  chances  of  carrying  a  message  from  me  to 
the  commander  on  my  right.  Vickers  promptly  volun 
teered,  with  some  characteristic  remark  which  indicated 
his  conviction  that  he  was  not  born  to  be  killed  in  battle. 
There  was  a  cross-fire  from  two  directions  through  which 
he  had  to  pass  and  of  which  he  had  been  advised ;  but 
he  bounded  away  with  the  message  almost  joyously. 
He  had  not  gone  many  steps  from  my  side  when  a  ball 
through  his  head,  the  first  and  last  that  ever  struck  him, 
had  placed  this  brave  soldier  beyond  the  possibility  of 
realizing,  in  this  world  at  least,  the  treachery  of  that  fate 
on  which  he  dependedo 


PRESENTIMENTS  AMONG  SOLDIERS    67 

The  other  case  was  that  of  Lieutenant-General  D.  H. 
Hill,  and  the  particular  occasion  which  I  select,  and 
which  aptly  illustrates  his  remarkable  faith,  was  the 
battle  of  Malvern  Hill.  At  that  time  he  was  major-gen 
eral  of  the  division  in  which  I  commanded  Rodes's  brigade. 
He  was  my  friend.  The  personal  and  official  relations 
between  us,  considering  the  disparity  in  our  ages,  were 
most  cordial  and  even  intimate.  He  was  closely  allied 
to  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  in  many  respects  his  counter 
part.  His  brilliant  career  as  a  soldier  is  so  well  known 
that  any  historical  account  of  it,  in  such  a  book  as  I  am 
writing,  would  be  wholly  unnecessary.  I  introduce  him 
here  as  a  most  conspicuous  illustration  of  a  faith  in 
Providence  which,  in  its  steadiness  and  strength  and  in 
its  sustaining  influence  under  great  peril,  certainly 
touched  the  margin  of  the  sublime.  At  Malvern  Hill, 
where  General  McClellan  made  his  superb  and  last  stand 
against  General  Lee's  forces,  General  Hill  took  his  seat 
at  the  root  of  a  large  tree  and  began  to  write  his  orders. 
At  this  point  McClellan's  batteries  from  the  crest  of  a 
high  ridge,  and  his  gunboats  from  the  James  River,  were 
ploughing  up  the  ground  in  every  direction  around  us. 
The  long  shells  from  the  gunboats,  which  our  men  called 
"McClellan's  gate-posts,"  and  the  solid  shot  from  his 
heavy  guns  on  land,  were  knocking  the  Confederate 
batteries  to  pieces  almost  as  fast  as  they  could  be  placed 
in  position.  The  Confederate  artillerists  fell  so  rapidly 
that  I  was  compelled  to  detail  untrained  infantry  to  take 
their  places.  And  yet  there  sat  that  intrepid  officer. 
General  D.  H.  Hill,  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  coolly  writing 
his  orders.  He  did  not  place  the  large  tree  between  him 
self  and  the  destructive  batteries,  but  sat  facing  them. 
I  urged  him  to  get  on  the  other  side  of  the  tree  and 
avoid  such  needless  and  reckless  exposure.  He  replied, 
"  Don't  worry  about  me ;  look  after  the  men.  I  am  not 
going  to  be  killed  until  my  time  comes."  He  had 


68    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

scarcely  uttered  these  words  when  a  shell  exploded  in 
our  immediate  presence,  severely  shocking  me  for  the 
moment,  a  portion  of  it  tearing  through  the  breast  of  his 
coat  and  rolling  him  over  in  the  newly  ploughed  ground. 
This  seemed  to  convert  him  to  a  more  rational  faith ;  for 
he  rose  from  the  ground,  and,  shaking  the  dirt  from  his 
uniform,  quietly  took  his  seat  on  the  other  side  of  the 
tree. 

As  for  myself,  I  was  never  in  a  battle  without  realizing 
that  every  moment  might  be  my  last ;  but  I  never  had  a 
presentiment  of  certain  death  at  a  given  time  or  in  a 
particular  battle.  There  did  come  to  me,  on  one  occa 
sion,  a  feeling  that  was  akin  to  a  presentiment.  It  was, 
however,  the  result  of  no  supposed  perception  of  certain 
coming  fate,  but  an  unbidden,  unwelcome  calculation  of 
chances—suggested  by  the  peculiar  circumstances  in 
which  I  found  myself  at  the  time.  It  was  at  Winchester, 
in  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  My  command  was  lying  al 
most  in  the  shadow  of  a  frowning  fortress  in  front,  in 
which  General  Milroy,  of  the  Union  army,  was  strongly 
intrenched  with  forces  which  we  had  been  fighting  dur 
ing  the  afternoon.  In  the  dim  twilight,  with  the  glimmer 
of  his  bayonets  and  brass  howitzers  still  discernible,  I 
received  an  order  to  storm  the  fortress  at  daylight  the 
next  morning.  To  say  that  I  was  astounded  at  the 
order  would  feebly  express  the  sensation  which  its  read 
ing  produced ;  for  on  either  side  of  the  fort  was  an  open 
country,  miles  in  width,  through  which  Confederate 
troops  could  easily  pass  around  and  to  the  rear  of  the 
fort,  cutting  off  General  Milroy  from  the  base  of  his  sup 
plies,  and  thus  forcing  him  to  retire  and  meet  us  in  the 
open  field.  There  was  nothing  for  me  to  do,  however, 
but  to  obey  the  order.  As  in  the  night  I  planned  the  as 
sault  and  thought  of  the  dreadful  slaughter  that  awaited 
my  men,  there  came  to  me,  as  I  have  stated,  a  calcula 
tion  as  to  chances,  which  resulted  in  the  conclusion  that  I 


PRESENTIMENTS  AMONG    SOLDIERS    69 

had  not  one  chance  in  a  thousand  to  live  through  it.  The 
weary  hours  of  the  night  had  nearly  passed,  and  by  the 
dim  light  of  my  bivouac  fire  I  wrote,  with  pencil,  what 
I  supposed  was  my  last  letter  to  Mrs.  Gordon,  who,  as 
usual,  was  near  me.  I  summoned  my  quartermaster, 
whose  duties  did  not  call  him  into  the  fight,  and  gave 
him  the  letter,  with  directions  to  deliver  it  to  Mrs.  Gor 
don  after  I  was  dead.  Mounting  my  horse,  my  men  now 
ready,  I  spoke  to  them  briefly  and  encouraged  them  to 
go  with  me  into  the  fort.  Before  the  dawn  we  were 
moving,  and  soon  ascending  the  long  slope.  At  every 
moment  I  expected  the  storm  of  shell  and  ball  that  would 
end  many  a  life,  my  own  among  them ;  but  on  we  swept, 
and  into  the  fort,  to  find  not  a  soldier  there !  It  had 
been  evacuated  during  the  night. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BATTLE   OF   MALVERN   HILL 

Continuous  fighting  between  McClellan's  and  Lee's  armies— Hurried 
burial  of  the  dead— How  "Stonewall"  Jackson  got  his  name— The 
secret  of  his  wonderful  power— The  predicament  of  my  command  at 
Malvern  Hill — A  fruitless  wait  for  reinforcements — Character  the 
basis  of  true  courage — Anecdote  of  General  Polk. 

AFTER  the  bloody  encounter  at  Seven  Pines,  or  Fair 
Oaks,  the  dead  of  both  armies  were  gathered,  under 
a  flag  of  truce,  for  burial.  An  inspection  of  the  field 
revealed  a  scene  sickening  and  shocking  to  those  whose 
sensibilities  were  not  yet  blunted  by  almost  constant 
contact  with  such  sights.  It  would  not  require  a  very 
vivid  imagination  to  write  of  Chickahominy's  flooded 
swarnps  as  "  incarnadined  waters,"  in  which  floated  side 
by  side  the  dead  bodies  clad  in  blue  and  in  gray.  All 
over  the  field  near  the  swamp  were  scattered  in  indis 
criminate  confusion  the  motionless  forms  and  ghastly 
faces  of  fellow-countrymen  who  had  fallen  bravely  fight 
ing  each  other  in  a  battle  for  principles— enemies  the 
day  before,  but  brothers  then  in  the  cold  embrace  of  an 
honorable  death.  Dying  at  each  other's  hands  in  sup 
port  of  profoundly  cherished  convictions,  their  released 
spirits  had  ascended  together  on  the  battle's  flame  to 
receive  the  reward  of  the  unerring  tribunal  of  last  appeal. 
The  fighting  between  the  armies  of  McClellan  and  Lee 
was  so  nearly  continuous,  and  engagement  succeeded 
engagement  so  rapidly,  that  at  some  points  the  killed 

70 


BATTLE   OF   MALVERN  HILL  71 

were  hurriedly  and  imperfectly  buried.  I  myself  had  a 
most  disagreeable  reminder  of  this  fact.  The  losses  in 
Rodes's  brigade,  which  I  was  then  commanding,  had 
been  so  heavy  that  it  was  held  with  other  troops  as  a 
reserved  corps.  Our  experiences,  however,  on  the  partic 
ular  day  of  which  I  now  speak  had  been  most  trying, 
and  after  nightfall*  I  was  directed  to  move  to  a  portion 
of  the  field  where  the  fighting  had  been  desperate  on  the 
preceding  day,  and  to  halt  for  the  night  in  a  woodland. 
Overcome  with  excessive  fatigue,  as  soon  as  the  desig 
nated  point  was  reached  I  delivered  my  horse  to  a  courier 
and  dropped  down  on  the  ground  for  a  much-needed 
rest.  In  a  few  moments  I  was  sound  asleep.  A  slightly 
elevated  mound  of  earth  served  for  a  pillow.  Frequently 
during  the  night  I  attempted  to  brush  away  from  my 
head  what  I  thought  in  my  slumber  was  a  twig  or  limb 
of  the  underbrush  in  which  I  was  lying.  My  horror  can 
be  imagined  when  I  discovered,  the  next  morning,  that 
it  was  the  hand  of  a  dead  soldier  sticking  out  above  the 
shallow  grave  which  had  been  my  pillow  and  in  which 
he  had  been  only  partly  covered. 

Up  to  this  period  my  association  with  General  Jack 
son  (Stonewall)  had  not  been  sufficiently  close  for  me 
clearly  to  comprehend  the  secret  of  his  wonderful  suc 
cess,  but  I  learned  it  a  few  days  later  at  Malvern  Hill. 
The  sobriquet "  Stonewall "  was  applied  to  him  during  the 
first  great  engagement  of  the  war  at  Manassas,  or  Bull 
Run.  His  brigade  was  making  a  superb  stand  against 
General  McDowell's  column,  which  had  been  thrown 
with  such  momentum  upon  the  Southern  flank  as  to 
threaten  the  destruction  of  the  whole  army.  General 
Bee,  of  South  Carolina,  whose  blood  was  almost  the 
earliest  sprinkled  on  the  Southern  altar,  determined  to 
lead  his  own  brigade  to  another  charge,  and  looking 
across  the  field,  he  saw  Jackson's  men  firmly,  stubbornly 
resisting  the  Federal  advance.  General  Bee,  in  order  to 


72    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

kindle  in  the  breasts  of  his  men  the  ardor  that  glowed 
in  his  own,  pointed  to  Jackson's  line  and  exclaimed: 
"  See,  there  stands  Jackson  like  a  stone  wall !  "  Bee  him 
self  fell  in  the  charge,  but  he  had  christened  Jackson 
and  his  brigade  by  attaching  to  them  a  peculiar  and  dis 
tinctive  name  which  will  live  while  the  history  of  our 
Civil  "War  lives. 

I  have  said  that  at  Malvern  Hill  I  learned  the  secret 
of  Jackson's  wonderful  power  and  success  as  a  soldier. 
It  was  due  not  only  to  his  keen  and  quick  perception  of 
the  situation  in  which  he  found  himself  at  each  moment 
in  the  rapidly  changing  scenes  as  the  battle  progressed 
or  before  it  began,  but  notably  to  an  implicit  faith  in 
his  own  judgment  when  once  made  up.  He  would  for 
mulate  that  judgment,  risk  his  last  man  upon  its  cor 
rectness,  and  deliver  the  stunning  blow,  while  others 
less  gifted  were  hesitating  and  debating  as  to  its  wisdom 
and  safety.  Whatever  this  peculiar  power  may  be  called, 
this  mental  or  moral  gift,  whether  inspiration  or  intui 
tion,  it  was  in  him  a  profound  conviction  that  he  was 
not  mistaken,  that  the  result  would  demonstrate  that 
the  means  he  employed  must  necessarily  attain  the  end 
which  he  thought  to  accomplish.  The  incident  to  which 
I  refer  was  trivial  in  itself,  but  it  threw  a  flood  of  light 
upon  his  marvellous  endowment.  I  sat  on  my  horse, 
facing  him  and  receiving  instructions  from  him,  when 
Major-General  Whiting,  himself  an  officer  of  high  capa 
city,  rode  up  in  great  haste  and  interrupted  Jackson  as 
he  was  giving  to  me  a  message  to  General  Hill.  With 
some  agitation,  Whiting  said :  "  General  Jackson,  I  find, 
sir,  that  I  cannot  accomplish  what  you  have  directed 
unless  you  send  me  some  additional  infantry  and  an 
other  battery " ;  and  he  then  proceeded  to  give  the 
reasons  why  the  order  could  not  be  executed  with  the 
forces  at  his  disposal.  All  this  time,  while  Whiting  ex 
plained  and  argued,  Jackson  sat  on  his  horse  like  a  stone 


BATTLE   OF  MALVERN   HILL  73 

statue.  He  looked  neither  to  the  right  nor  the  left.  He 
made  no  comment  and  asked  no  questions;  but  when 
Whiting  had  finished,  Jackson  turned  his  flashing  eyes 
upon  him  and  used  these  words,  and  only  these :  "I  have 
told  you  what  I  wanted  done,  General  Whiting";  and 
planting  his  spurs  in  his  horse's  sides,  he  dashed  away 
at  a  furious  speed  to  another  part  of  the  field.  Whiting 
gazed  at  Jackson's  disappearing  figure  in  amazement, 
if  not  in  anger,  and  then  rode  back  to  his  command. 
The  result  indicated  the  accuracy  of  Jackson's  judgment 
and  the  infallibility  of  his  genius,  for  Whiting  did  ac 
complish  precisely  what  Jackson  intended,  and  he  did  it 
with  the  force  which  Jackson  had  placed  in  his  hands. 

Returning,  after  my  interview  with  Jackson,  to  my 
position  on  the  extreme  right,  I  found  General  Hill  in  a 
fever  of  impatience  for  the  advance  upon  McClellan's 
troops,  who  were  massed,  with  their  batteries,  on  the 
heights  in  our  front.  The  hour  for  the  general  assault 
which  was  to  be  made  in  the  afternoon  by  the  whole 
Confederate  army  had  come  and  passed.  There  had 
been,  however,  the  delays  usual  in  all  such  concerted 
movements.  Some  of  the  divisions  had  not  arrived 
upon  the  field;  others,  from  presumably  unavoidable 
causes,  had  not  taken  their  places  in  line :  and  the  few 
remaining  hours  of  daylight  were  passing.  Finally  a 
characteristic  Confederate  yell  was  heard  far  down  the 
line.  It  was  supposed  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  pro 
posed  general  assault.  General  Hill  ordered  me  to  lead 
the  movement  on  the  right,  stating  that  he  would  hurry 
in  the  supports  to  take  their  places  on  both  my  flanks 
and  in  rear  of  my  brigade.  I  made  the  advance,  but  the 
supports  did  not  come.  Indeed,  with  the  exception  of 
one  other  brigade,  which  was  knocked  to  pieces  in  a  few 
minutes,  no  troops  came  in  view.  Isolated  from  the 
rest  of  the  army  and  alone,  my  brigade  moved  across  this 
shell-ploughed  plain  toward  the  heights,  which  were  per- 


74   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

haps  more  than  half  a  mile  away.  Within  fifteen  or 
twenty  minutes  the  centre  regiment  (Third  Alabama), 
with  which  I  moved,  had  left  more  than  half  of  its  number 
dead  and  wounded  along  its  track,  and  the  other  regi 
ments  had  suffered  almost  as  severely.  One  shell  had 
killed  six  or  seven  men  in  my  immediate  presence.  My 
pistol,  on  one  side,  had  the  handle  torn  off ;  my  canteen, 
on  the  other,  was  pierced,  emptying  its  contents— water 
merely — on  my  trousers ;  and  my  coat  was  ruined  by 
having  a  portion  of  the  front  torn  away :  but,  with  the 
exception  of  this  damage,  I  was  still  unhurt.  At  the  foot 
of  the  last  steep  ascent,  near  the  batteries,  I  found  that 
McClellan's  guns  were  firing  over  us,  and  as  any  further 
advance  by  this  unsupported  brigade  would  have  been 
not  only  futile  but  foolhardy,  I  halted  my  men  and 
ordered  them  to  lie  down  and  fire  upon  McClellan's 
standing  lines  of  infantry.  I  stood  upon  slightly  ele 
vated  ground  in  order  to  watch  for  the  reinforcements, 
or  for  any  advance  from  the  heights  upon  my  command. 
In  vain  I  looked  behind  us  for  the  promised  support. 
Anxiously  I  looked  forward,  fearing  an  assault  upon  my 
exposed  position.  No  reinforcements  came  until  it  was 
too  late.  As  a  retreat  in  daylight  promised  to  be  almost 
or  quite  as  deadly  as  had  been  the  charge,  my  desire  for 
the  relief  which  nothing  but  darkness  could  now  bring 
can  well  be  imagined.  In  this  state  of  extreme  anxiety 
a  darkness  which  was  unexpected  and  terrible  came  to 
me  alone.  A  great  shell  fell,  buried  itself  in  the  ground, 
and  exploded  near  where  I  stood.  It  heaved  the  dirt  over 
me,  filling  my  face  and  ears  and  eyes  with  sand.  I  was  lit 
erally  blinded.  Not  an  inch  before  my  face  could  I  see ; 
but  I  could  think,  and  thoughts  never  ran  more  swiftly 
through  a  perplexed  mortal  brain.  Blind!  Blind  in 
battle !  Was  this  to  be  permanent  I  Suppose  reenforce- 
ments  now  came,  what  was  I  to  do?  Suppose  there 
should  be  an  assault  upon  my  command  from  the  front  ? 


BATTLE   OF  MALVERN  HILL  75 

Such  were  the  unspoken  but  agonizing  questions  which 
throbbed  in  my  brain  with  terrible  swiftness  and  inten 
sity.  The  blindness,  however,  was  of  short  duration. 
The  delicate  and  perfect  machinery  of  the  eye  soon  did 
its  work.  At  last  came,  also,  the  darkness  for  which  I 
longed,  and  under  its  thick  veil  this  splendid  brigade 
was  safely  withdrawn. 

Large  bodies  of  troops  had  been  sent  forward,  or 
rather  led  forward,  by  that  intrepid  commander,  Gen 
eral  Hill ;  but  the  unavoidable  delay  in  reaching  the  lo 
cality,  and  other  intervening  difficulties,  prevented  them 
from  ever  reaching  the  advanced  position  from  which 
my  men  withdrew.  In  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  trying  to 
get  them  forward,  coming  as  they  did  from  different 
directions,  there  was  necessarily  much  confusion,  and 
they  were  subjected  to  the  same  destructive  fire  through 
which  my  troops  had  previously  passed.  In  the  dark 
ness,  even  after  the  firing  had  ceased,  there  occurred,  in 
the  confusion,  among  these  mixed  up  bodies  of  men, 
many  amusing  mistakes  as  to  identity,  and  some  alter 
cations  between  officers  which  were  not  so  amusing  and 
not  altogether  complimentary.  One  of  my  men  ran  to 
me  and  asked,  "  Did  you  hear  -  -  say  to  -  -  that  he 
and  his  men,"  etc. — I  forbear  to  quote  the  remaining  part 
of  the  question.  I  replied  that  I  had  not  heard  it,  but  if 
it  had  occurred  as  reported  to  me  we  would  probably 
hear  of  it  again— and  we  did.  Early  the  next  morning 
a  challenge  was  sent,  but  the  officer  who  had  given  the 
offence  was  in  a  playful  mood  when  the  challenge  reached 
him ;  so,  instead  of  accepting  it,  or  answering  it  in  the 
formal  style  required  by  the  duelling  code,  he  replied  in 
about  these  words : 

MY  DEAR :     I  did  not  volunteer  to  fight  you  or  any  other 

Confederate,  but  if  you  and  your  men  will  do  better  in  the  next 
battle  I  will  take  back  all  I  said  to  you  last  night.  In  the  mean 
time,  I  am,  Very  truly  yours,  . 


76    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

These  officers  are  both  dead  now,  and  I  give  this  in 
complete  account  of  the  incident  to  show  how  easy  it 
was  to  get  up  a  fight  along  in  the  sixties,  if  one  were  so 
disposed,  either  in  a  general  melee  with  the  blue-coated 
lines,  or  single-handed  with  a  gray-clad  comrade. 

I  believe  it  was  in  this  battle  that  was  first  perpetrated 
that  rustic  witticism  which  afterward  became  so  famous 
in  the  army.  Through  one  of  the  wide  gaps  made  in 
the  Confederate  lines  by  McClellaii's  big  guns  as  they 
sent  their  death-dealing  missiles  from  hill  and  river, 
there  ran  a  panic-stricken  rabbit,  flying  in  terror  to  the 
rear.  A  stalwart  mountaineer  noticed  the  speed  and  the 
direction  which  the  rabbit  took  to  escape  from  his  dis 
agreeable  surroundings.  He  was  impressed  by  the  rab 
bit's  prudence,  and  shouted,  so  that  his  voice  was  heard 
above  the  din  of  the  battle :  "  Go  it,  Molly  Cottontail ! 
I  wish  I  could  go  with  you !  "  One  of  his  comrades  near 
by  caught  up  the  refrain,  and  answered :  "  Yes,  and,  'y 
golly,  Jim,  I  'd  go  with  Molly,  too,  if  it  was  n't  for  my 
character." 

"Character."  What  a  centre  shot  this  rough  soldier 
had  fired  in  that  short  sentence !  He  had  analyzed  un 
consciously  but  completely  the  loftiest  type  of  courage. 
He  felt  like  flying  to  the  rear,  as  "  Molly  "  was  flying, 
but  his  character  carried  him  forward.  His  sense  of  the 
awful  dangers,  the  ominous  hissing  of  the  deadly  Minie 
balls,  and  the  whizzing  of  the  whirling  shells  tearing 
through  the  ranks  and  scattering  the  severed  limbs  of 
his  falling  comrades  around  him,  all  conspired  to  bid 
him  fly  to  the  rear;  but  his  character,  that  noblest  of 
human  endowments,  commanded,  "  Forward !  "  and  for 
ward  he  went. 

In  this  connection  I  am  reminded  of  the  commonplace 
but  important  truth  that  the  aggregate  character  of  a 
people  of  any  country  depends  upon  the  personal  char 
acter  of  its  individual  citizens ;  and  that  the  stability  of 


BATTLE  OF  MALVERN  HILL          77 

popular  government  depends  far  more  upon  the  charac 
ter,  the  individual  personal  character  of  its  people,  than 
it  does  upon  any  constitution  that  could  be  adopted  or 
statutes  that  could  be  enacted.  What  would  safeguards 
be  worth  if  the  character  of  the  people  did  not  sustain 
and  enforce  them  I  The  constitution  would  be  broken, 
the  laws  defied ;  riot  and  anarchy  would  destroy  both, 
and  with  them  the  government  itself.  I  am  not  assum 
ing  or  suggesting  that  this  country  is  in  any  present 
danger  of  such  an  experience ;  but  of  all  the  countries 
on  earth  this  one,  with  its  universal  suffrage,  its  diver 
gent  and  conflicting  interests,  its  immense  expanse  of 
territory,  and  its  large  population,  made  up  from  every 
class  and  clime,  and  still  to  be  increased  in  the  coming 
years,  is  far  more  dependent  than  any  other  upon  the 
character  of  its  people.  It  is  a  great  support  to  our  hope 
for  the  future  and  to  our  confidence  in  the  stability  of 
this  government  to  recall  now  and  then  some  illustra 
tion  of  the  combination  of  virtues  which  make  up 
character,  as  they  gleam  with  peculiar  lustre  through 
the  darkest  hours  of  our  Civil  Wai  period.  That  war  not 
only  gave  the  occasion  for  its  exhibition,  but  furnished 
the  food  upon  which  character  fed  and  grew  strong. 
There  were  many  thousands  of  men  in  both  armies  who 
did  not  say  in  words,  but  said  by  deeds,  that  "  charac 
ter"  would  not  let  them  consult  their  fears  or  obey  the 
impulse  of  their  heels.  I  could  fill  this  book  with  such 
cases,  and  yet  confine  myself  to  either  one  of  the  armies. 
I  received  the  particulars  of  another  incident  illus 
trating  this  truth  from  a  Union  officer  who  was  present 
when  the  desperate  and  successful  effort  was  made  to 
hold  the  little  fort  at  Altoona,  Georgia,  against  the 
assault  by  the  Confederates.  They  had  surrounded  it 
and  demanded  its  surrender.  The  demand  was  refused, 
whereupon  an  awful  and  consuming  fire  was  opened 
upon  the  small  force  locked  up  in  the  little  fortress. 


78    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

Steadily  and  rapidly  the  men  fell  in  the  fort.  No  place 
could  be  found  within  its  dirt  walls  where  even  the 
wounded  could  be  laid,  so  as  to  protect  them  from  the 
galling  Confederate  fire;  but  still  they  fought  and  re 
fused  to  surrender.  Finally,  in  utter  despair,  some  one 
proposed  to  raise  the  white  flag.  Instantly  there  rang 
around  the  fort  a  chorus  of  indignant  protest :  "  Who 
says  surrender?  Shoot  the  man  who  proposes  it !  "  In 
the  face  of  the  fact  that  at  every  moment  the  men  were 
dying,  and  that  apparently  certain  destruction  awaited 
all,  what  was  it  that  inspired  that  protest  against  sur 
render?  There  is  but  one  answer.  It  was  character. 
Those  men  had  been  ordered  there  to  hold  that  fort.  A 
grave  responsibility  had  been  imposed ;  a  trust  of  most 
serious  nature  had  been  committed  to  them;  and  al 
though  their  commander  had  been  shot  down,  all  the 
officers  killed  or  wounded,  and  the  ammunition  nearly 
exhausted,  yet  their  manhood,  their  fidelity,  their  char 
acter  bade  them  fight  on.  They  had  no  "  Molly,"  with 
its  white  cotton-tail,  bidding  them  fly  to  the  rear,  but 
they  did  have  the  suggestion  of  the  white  flag.  Around 
them,  as  around  the  high-spirited  Confederate  at  Malvern 
Hill,  the  storm  of  death  in  wildest  fury  was  raging ;  and 
in  both  cases,  as  in  ten  thousand  other  cases,  they  turned 
a  deaf  ear  to  all  suggestions  of  personal  danger.  The 
answer  to  such  suggestions,  though  differing  in  phrase 
ology,  was  the  same  in  both  cases — character. 

While  the  heroic  men  at  Altoona  were  rapidly  falling 
but  still  fighting,  with  chances  of  successful  resistance 
diminishing  as  each  dreadful  moment  passed,  the  signal- 
flag  from  a  spur  of  Kennesaw  Mountain  sent  them  that 
famous  message  from  General  Sherman :  "  Hold  the  fort. 
I  am  coming." 

During  a  visit  to  northern  Pennsylvania,  in  recent 
years,  an  officer  of  that  signal  corps  stated  incidentally 
that  they  had  succeeded  in  interpreting  the  Confederate 


BATTLE  OF  MALVERN  HILL     79 

signals,  and  that  while  General  Johnston's  army  was  at 
Kennesaw  this  Union  corps  caught  the  signal  message 
announcing  that  Lieutenant-General  Polk  had  just  been 
killed,  and  that  the  fact  was  announced  in  the  Northern 
papers  as  soon,  or  perhaps  before,  it  was  announced  to 
the  Southern  troops.  It  is  probable  that  the  signal 
corps  of  the  Southern  armies  were  at  times  able  to  inter 
pret  the  signals  of  the  other  side.  In  one  way  or  another, 
the  high  secrets  of  the  two  sides  generally  leaked  out 
and  became  the  property  of  the  opponents  by  right  of 
capture. 

The  reference  to  General's  Folk's  death  recalls  an 
anecdote  told  of  him  in  the  army,  which  aptly  illus 
trates  the  great  enthusiasm  with  which  he  fought,  and 
which  he  never  failed  to  impart  to  his  splendid  corps. 
General  Leonidas  Polk  was  a  prince  among  men  and  an 
officer  of  marked  ability.  He  was  a  bishop  of  the  Epis 
copal  Church.  His  character  was  beautiful  in  its  sim 
plicity  and  its  strength.  He  was  an  ardent  admirer  of 
General  Cheatham,  who  was  one  of  the  most  furious 
fighters  of  Johnston's  army.  Cheatham,  when  the  furor 
of  battle  was  on  him,  was  in  the  habit  of  using  four 
monosyllables  which  were  more  expressive  than  polished, 
but  in  his  case  they  expressed  with  tremendous  emphasis 
the  "  gloria  certaminis."  These  four  monosyllables,  which 
became  notable  in  the  army  as  "  Cheatham's  expression," 
were :  "  Give  'em  hell,  boys !  "  General  Polk,  as  I  have 
said,  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  General  Cheatham  as  a 
soldier,  and  on  one  occasion,  as  the  bishop-general  rode 
along  his  lines,  when  they  were  charging  the  works  in 
front,  and  as  the  rebel  yell  rang  out  his  natural  enthu 
siasm  carried  him,  for  the  moment,  off  his  balance.  In 
the  exhilaration  of  the  charge  the  bishop  was  lost  in  the 
soldier,  and  he  shouted :  "  Give  it  to  'em,  boys !  Give 
'em  what  General  Cheatham  says !  " 


CHAPTEE  VII 

ANTIETAM 

Restoration  of  McClellan  to  command  of  the  Federals— My  command 
at  General  Lee's  centre— Remarkable  series  of  bayonet  charges  by 
the  Union  troops— How  the  centre  was  held— Bravery  of  the  Union 
commander— A  long  struggle  for  life. 

THE  war  had  now  assumed  proportions  altogether 
vaster  than  had  been  anticipated  by  either  the 
North  or  the  South.  No  man  at  the  North,  perhaps  no 
man  on  either  side,  had  at  its  beginning  a  clearer  per 
ception  of  the  probable  magnitude  of  the  struggle  than 
General  W.  T.  Sherman.  Although  he  was  regarded 
even  then  by  his  people  as  an  officer  of  unusual  promise, 
and  a  typical  representative  of  the  courage  and  con 
stancy  of  the  stalwart  sons  of  the  great  West,  yet  he 
called  upon  himself  and  his  prophecy  the  criticism  of 
those  whose  views  did  not  accord  with  his  predictions. 
However  uncomfortable  these  criticisms  may  have  been 
to  his  friends,  they  did  not  seem  to  disturb  his  equa 
nimity  or  force  him  to  modify  his  opinion  that  it  would 
require  a  vastly  larger  army  than  was  generally  supposed 
necessary  to  penetrate  the  heart  of  the  South.  He  seemed 
to  have,  at  that  early  period,  a  well-defined  idea  of  the 
desperate  resistance  to  be  made  by  the  Southern  people. 
Possibly  this  ability  to  look  into  the  future  may  have 
been  in  some  measure  due  to  a  superior  knowledge  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  Southern  people  acquired  dur 
ing  his  former  residence  among  them ;  but  whatever  the 

80 


ANTIETAM  81 

source  of  his  information,  General  Sherman  lived  to  see 
the  correctness  of  his  opinions  abundantly  verified. 
Some  years  after  the  war,  when  General  Sherman  visited 
Atlanta,  the  brilliant  and  witty  Henry  W.  Grady,  in  a 
speech  made  to  him  on  his  arrival,  playfully  referred  to 
the  former  visit  of  the  general,  and  to  the  condition  in 
which  that  visit  had  left  the  city.  Grady  said :  "  And  they 
do  say,  general,  that  you  are  a  little  careless  about  fire." 
General  Sherman  must  have  felt  compensated  for  any 
allusions  to  the  marks  he  had  left  when  "marching 
through  Georgia  "  by  the  courtesies  shown  him  while  in 
Atlanta,  as  well  as  by  the  people's  appreciation  of  the 
remarkably  generous  terms  offered  by  him  to  General 
Johnston's  army  at  the  surrender  in  North  Carolina. 
Those  terms  were  rejected  in  Washington  because  of 
their  liberality. 

Like  two  mighty  giants  preparing  for  a  test  of  strength, 
the  Union  and  Confederate  armies  now  arrayed  them 
selves  for  still  bloodier  encounters.  In  this  encounter 
the  one  went  down,  and  in  that  the  other ;  but  each  rose 
from  its  fall,  if  not  with  renewed  strength,  at  least  with 
increased  resolve.  In  the  Southwest,  as  well  as  in  Vir 
ginia,  the  blows  between  the  mighty  contestants  came 
fast  and  hard.  Both  were  in  the  field  for  two  and  a  half 
years  more  of  the  most  herculean  struggle  the  world  has 
ever  witnessed. 

At  Antietam,  or  Sharpsburg,  as  the  Confederates  call 
it,  on  the  soil  of  Maryland,  occurred  one  of  the  most  des 
perate  though  indecisive  battles  of  modern  times.  The 
Union  forces  numbered  about  60,000,  the  Confederates 
about  35,000.  This  battle  left  its  lasting  impress  upon 
my  body  as  well  as  upon  my  memory. 

General  George  B.  McClellan,  after  his  displacement, 
had  been  again  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Union 
forces.  The  restoration  of  this  brilliant  soldier  seemed 
to  have  imparted  new  life  to  that  army.  Vigorously 


82    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR 

following  up  the  success  achieved  at  South  Mountain, 
McClellan,  on  the  16th  day  of  September,  1862,  marshalled 
his  veteran  legions  on  the  eastern  hills  bordering  the 
Antietam.  On  the  opposite  slopes,  near  the  picturesque 
village  of  Sharpsburg,  stood  the  embattled  lines  of  Lee. 
As  these  vast  American  armies,  the  one  clad  in  blue  and 
the  other  in  gray,  stood  contemplating  each  other  from 
the  adjacent  hills,  flaunting  their  defiant  banners,  they 
presented  an  array  of  martial  splendor  that  was  not 
equalled,  perhaps,  on  any  other  field.  It  was  in  marked 
contrast  with  other  battle-grounds.  On  the  open  plain, 
where  stood  these  hostile  hosts  in  long  lines,  listening  in 
silence  for  the  signal  summoning  them  to  battle,  there 
were  no  breastworks,  no  abatis,  no  intervening  wood 
lands,  nor  abrupt  hills,  nor  hiding-places,  nor  impassable 
streams.  The  space  over  which  the  assaulting  columns 
were  to  march,  and  on  which  was  soon  to  occur  the  tre 
mendous  struggle,  consisted  of  smooth  and  gentle  undu 
lations  and  a  narrow  valley  covered  with  green  grass 
and  growing  corn.  From  the  position  assigned  me  near 
the  centre  of  Lee's  lines,  both  armies  and  the  entire  field 
were  in  view.  The  scene  was  not  only  magnificent  to 
look  upon,  but  the  realization  of  what  it  meant  was 
deeply  impressive.  Even  in  times  of  peace  our  sensi 
bilities  are  stirred  by  the  sight  of  a  great  army  passing 
in  review.  How  infinitely  more  thrilling  in  the  dread 
moments  before  the  battle  to  look  upon  two  mighty 
armies  upon  the  same  plain,  "beneath  spread  ensigns 
and  bristling  bayonets,"  waiting  for  the  impending  crash 
and  sickening  carnage ! 

Behind  McClellan's  army  the  country  was  open  and 
traversed  by  broad  macadamized  roads  leading  to  Wash 
ington  and  Baltimore.  The  defeat,  therefore,  or  even 
the  total  rout  of  Union  forces,  meant  not  necessarily  the 
destruction  of  that  army,  but,  more  probably,  its  tempo 
rary  disorganization  and  rapid  retreat  through  a  country 


ANTIETAM  83 

abounding  in  supplies,  and  toward  cities  rich  in  men  and 
means.  Behind  Lee's  Confederates,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  the  Potomac  River,  too  deep  to  be  forded  by  his  in 
fantry,  except  at  certain  points.  Defeat  and  total  rout 
of  his  army  meant,  therefore,  not  only  its  temporary  dis 
organization,  but  its  possible  destruction.  And  yet  that 
bold  leader  did  not  hesitate  to  give  battle.  Such  was 
his  confidence  in  the  steadfast  courage  and  oft-tested 
prowess  of  his  troops  that  he  threw  his  lines  across 
McClelland  front  with  their  backs  against  the  river. 
Doubtless  General  Lee  would  have  preferred,  as  all  pru 
dent  commanders  would,  to  have  the  river  in  his  front 
instead  of  his  rear ;  but  he  wisely,  as  the  sequel  proved, 
elected  to  order  Jackson  from  Harper's  Ferry,  and,  with 
his  entire  army,  to  meet  McClellan  on  the  eastern  shore 
rather  than  risk  the  chances  of  having  the  Union  com 
mander  assail  him  while  engaged  in  crossing  the  Potomac. 
On  the  elevated  points  beyond  the  narrow  valley  the 
Union  batteries  were  rolled  into  position,  and  the  Con 
federate  heavy  guns  unlimbered  to  answer  them.  For 
one  or  more  seconds,  and  before  the  first  sounds  reached 
us,  we  saw  the  great  volumes  of  white  smoke  rolling 
from  the  mouths  of  McClellan's  artillery.  The  next  sec 
ond  brought  the  roar  of  the  heavy  discharges  and  the 
loud  explosions  of  hostile  shells  in  the  midst  of  our  lines, 
inaugurating  the  great  battle.  The  Confederate  batteries 
promptly  responded;  and  while  the  artillery  of  both 
armies  thundered,  McClellan's  compact  columns  of  in 
fantry  fell  upon  the  left  of  Lee's  lines  with  the  crushing 
weight  of  a  land-slide.  The  Confederate  battle  line  was 
too  weak  to  withstand  the  momentum  of  such  a  charge. 
Pressed  back,  but  neither  hopelessly  broken  nor  dis 
mayed,  the  Southern  troops,  enthused  by  Lee's  presence, 
reformed  their  lines,  and,  with  a  shout  as  piercing  as  the 
blast  of  a  thousand  bugles,  rushed  in  counter-charge 
upon  the  exulting  Federals,  hurled  them  back  in  con- 


84    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

fusion,  and  recovered  all  the  ground  that  had  been  lost. 
Again  and  again,  hour  after  hour,  by  charges  and 
counter-charges,  this  portion  of  the  field  was  lost  and 
recovered,  until  the  green  corn  that  grew  upon  it  looked 
as  if  it  had  been  struck  by  a  storm  of  bloody  hail. 

Up  to  this  hour  not  a  shot  had  been  fired  in  my  front. 
There  was  an  ominous  lull  on  the  left.  From  sheer  ex 
haustion,  both  sides,  like  battered  and  bleeding  athletes, 
seemed  willing  to  rest.  General  Lee  took  advantage  of 
the  respite  and  rode  along  his  lines  on  the  right  and  cen 
tre.  He  was  accompanied  by  Division  Commander  Gen 
eral  D.  H.  Hill.  With  that  wonderful  power  which  he 
possessed  of  divining  the  plans  and  purposes  of  his  an 
tagonist,  General  Lee  had  decided  that  the  Union  com 
mander's  next  heavy  blow  would  fall  upon  our  centre, 
and  those  of  us  who  held  that  important  position  were 
notified  of  this  conclusion.  We  were  cautioned  to  be 
prepared  for  a  determined  assault  and  urged  to  hold  that 
centre  at  any  sacrifice,  as  a  break  at  that  point  would 
endanger  his  entire  army.  My  troops  held  the  most  ad 
vanced  position  on  this  part  of  the  field,  arid  there  was 
no  supporting  line  behind  us.  It  was  evident,  therefore, 
that  my  small  force  was  to  receive  the  first  impact  of 
the  expected  charge  and  to  be  subjected  to  the  deadliest 
fire.  To  comfort  General  Lee  and  General  Hill,  and 
especially  to  make,  if  possible,  my  men  still  more  reso 
lute  of  purpose,  I  called  aloud  to  these  officers  as  they 
rode  away :  "  These  men  are  going  to  stay  here,  Gen 
eral,  till  the  sun  goes  down  or  victory  is  won."  Alas ! 
many  of  the  brave  fellows  are  there  now. 

General  Lee  had  scarcely  reached  his  left  before  the 
predicted  assault  came.  The  day  was  clear  and  beauti 
ful,  with  scarcely  a  cloud  in  the  sky.  The  men  in  blue 
filed  down  the  opposite  slope,  crossed  the  little  stream 
(Antietam),  and  formed  in  my  front,  an  assaulting  col 
umn  four  lines  deep.  The  front  line  came  to  a  "  charge 


ANTIETAM  85 

bayonets,"  the  other  lines  to  a  "right  shoulder  shift." 
The  brave  Union  commander,  superbly  mounted,  placed 
himself  in  front,  while  his  band  in  rear  cheered  them 
with  martial  music.  It  was  a  thrilling  spectacle.  The 
entire  force,  I  concluded,  was  composed  of  fresh  troops 
from  Washington  or  some  camp  of  instruction.  So  far 
as  I  could  see,  every  soldier  wore  white  gaiters  around 
his  ankles.  The  banners  above  them  had  apparently 
never  been  discolored  by  the  smoke  and  dust  of  battle. 
Their  gleaming  bayonets  flashed  like  burnished  silver  in 
the  sunlight.  With  the  precision  of  step  and  perfect 
alignment  of  a  holiday  parade,  this  magnificent  array 
moved  to  the  charge,  every  step  keeping  time  to  the  tap 
of  the  deep-sounding  drum.  As  we  stood  looking  upon 
that  brilliant  pageant,  I  thought,  if  I  did  not  say,  "  What 
a  pity  to  spoil  with  bullets  such  a  scene  of  martial 
beauty ! "  But  there  was  nothing  else  to  do.  Mars  is 
not  an  aesthetic  god;  and  he  was  directing  every  part 
of  this  game  in  which  giants  were  the  contestants.  On 
every  preceding  field  where  I  had  been  engaged  it  had 
been  my  fortune  to  lead  or  direct  charges,  and  not  to  re 
ceive  them ;  or  else  to  move  as  the  tides  of  battle  swayed 
in  the  one  direction  or  the  other.  Now  my  duty  w^as  to 
move  neither  to  the  front  nor  to  the  rear,  but  to  stand 
fast,  holding  that  centre  under  whatever  pressure  and 
against  any  odds. 

Every  act  and  movement  of  the  Union  commander  in 
my  front  clearly  indicated  his  purpose  to  discard  bul 
lets  and  depend  upon  bayonets.  He  essayed  to  break 
through  Lee's  centre  by  the  crushing  weight  and  mo 
mentum  of  his  solid  column.  It  was  my  business  to 
prevent  this ;  and  how  to  do  it  with  my  single  line  was 
the  tremendous  problem  which  had  to  be  solved,  and 
solved  quickly;  for  the  column  was  coming.  As  I  saw 
this  solid  mass  of  men  moving  upon  me  with  determined 
step  and  front  of  steel,  every  conceivable  plan  of  meet- 


86    EEMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

ing  and  repelling  it  was  rapidly  considered.  To  oppose 
man  against  man  and  strength  against  strength  was 
impossible ;  for  there  were  four  lines  of  blue  to  my  one 
of  gray.  My  first  impulse  was  to  open  fire  upon  the 
compact  mass  as  soon  as  it  came  within  reach  of  my 
rifles,  and  to  pour  into  its  front  an  incessant  hail-storm 
of  bullets  during  its  entire  advance  across  the  broad, 
open  plain;  but  after  a  moment's  reflection  that  plan 
was  also  discarded.  It  was  rejected  because,  during  the 
few  minutes  required  for  the  column  to  reach  my  line,  I 
could  not  hope  to  kill  and  disable  a  sufficient  number  of 
the  enemy  to  reduce  his  strength  to  an  equality  with 
mine.  The  only  remaining  plan  was  one  which  I  had 
never  tried  but  in  the  efficacy  of  which  I  had  the  utmost 
faith.  It  was  to  hold  my  fire  until  the  advancing  Fed 
erals  were  almost  upon  my  lines,  and  then  turn  loose  a 
sheet  of  flame  and  lead  into  their  faces.  I  did  not  be 
lieve  that  any  troops  on  earth,  with  empty  guns  in  their 
hands,  could  withstand  so  sudden  a  shock  and  withering 
a  fire.  The  programme  was  fixed  in  my  own  mind,  all 
horses  were  sent  to  the  rear,  and  my  men  were  at  once 
directed  to  lie  down  upon  the  grass  and  clover.  They 
were  quickly  made  to  understand,  through  my  aides  and 
line  officers,  that  the  Federals  were  coming  upon  them 
with  unloaded  guns ;  that  not  a  shot  would  be  fired  at 
them,  and  that  not  one  of  our  rifles  was  to  be  discharged 
until  my  voice  should  be  heard  from  the  centre  command 
ing  "  Fire ! "  They  were  carefully  instructed  in  the 
details.  They  were  notified  that  I  would  stand  at  the 
centre,  watching  the  advance,  while  they  were  lying 
upon  their  breasts  with  rifles  pressed  to  their  shoulders, 
and  that  they  were  not  to  expect  my  order  to  fire  until 
the  Federals  were  so  close  upon  us  that  every  Confede 
rate  bullet  would  take  effect. 

There  was  no  artillery  at  this  point  upon  either  side, 
and  not  a  rifle  was  discharged.     The  stillness  was  liter- 


ANTIETAM  87 

ally  oppressive,  as  in  close  order,  with  the  commander 
still  riding  in  front,  this  column  of  Union  infantry  moved 
majestically  in  the  charge.  In  a  few  minutes  they  were 
within  easy  range  of  our  rifles,  and  some  of  my  impa 
tient  men  asked  permission  to  fire.  "  Not  yet,"  I  replied. 
"  Wait  for  the  order."  Soon  they  were  so  close  that  we 
might  have  seen  the  eagles  on  their  buttons ;  but  my 
brave  and  eager  boys  still  waited  for  the  order.  Now 
the  front  rank  was  within  a  few  rods  of  where  I  stood. 
It  would  not  do  to  wait  another  second,  and  with  all  my 
lung  power  I  shouted  "  Fire !  " 

My  rifles  flamed  and  roared  in  the  Federals'  faces  like 
a  blinding  blaze  of  lightning  accompanied  by  the  quick 
and  deadly  thunderbolt.  The  effect  was  appalling.  The 
entire  front  line,  with  few  exceptions,  went  down  in  the 
consuming  blast.  The  gallant  commander  and  his  horse 
fell  in  a  heap  near  where  I  stood— the  horse  dead,  the 
rider  unhurt.  Before  his  rear  lines  could  recover  from 
the  terrific  shock,  my  exultant  men  were  on  their  feet, 
devouring  them  with  successive  volleys.  Even  then 
these  stubborn  blue  lines  retreated  in  fairly  good  order. 
My  front  had  been  cleared ;  Lee's  centre  had  been  saved ; 
and  yet  not  a  drop  of  blood  had  been  lost  by  my  men. 
The  result,  however,  of  this  first  effort  to  penetrate  the 
Confederate  centre  did  not  satisfy  the  intrepid  Union 
commander.  Beyond  the  range  of  my  rifles  he  reformed 
his  men  into  three  lines,  and  on  foot  led  them  to  the 
second  charge,  still  with  unloaded  guns.  This  advance 
was  also  repulsed;  but  again  and  again  did  he  advance 
in  four  successive  charges  in  the  fruitless  effort  to  break 
through  my  lines  with  the  bayonets.  Finally  his  troops 
were  ordered  to  load.  He  drew  up  in  close  rank  and 
easy  range,  and  opened  a  galling  fire  upon  my  line. 

I  must  turn  aside  from  my  story  at  this  point  to  ex 
press  my  regret  that  I  have  never  been  able  to  ascertain 
the  name  of  this  lion-hearted  Union  officer.  His  indom- 


88    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

itable  will  and  great  courage  have  been  equalled  on  other 
fields  and  in  both  armies;  but  I  do  not  believe  they 
have  ever  been  surpassed.  Just  before  I  fell  and  was 
borne  unconscious  from  the  field,  I  saw  this  undaunted 
commander  attempting  to  lead  his  men  in  another 
charge. 

The  fire  from  these  hostile  American  lines  at  close 
quarters  now  became  furious  and  deadly.  The  list  of 
the  slain  was  lengthened  with  each  passing  moment.  I 
was  not  at  the  front  when,  near  nightfall,  the  awful 
carnage  ceased;  but  one  of  my  officers  long  afterward 
assured  me  that  he  could  have  walked  on  the  dead  bodies 
of  my  men  from  one  end  of  the  line  to  the  other.  This, 
perhaps,  was  not  literally  true ;  but  the  statement  did 
not  greatly  exaggerate  the  shocking  slaughter.  Before 
I  was  wholly  disabled  and  carried  to  the  rear,  I  walked 
along  my  line  and  found  an  old  man  and  his  son  lying 
side  by  side.  The  son  was  dead,  the  father  mortally 
wounded.  The  gray-haired  hero  called  me  and  said: 
"  Here  we  are.  My  boy  is  dead,  and  I  shall  go  soon ; 
but  it  is  all  right."  Of  such  were  the  early  volunteers. 

My  extraordinary  escapes  from  wounds  in  all  the  pre 
vious  battles  had  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  com 
rades  as  well  as  upon  my  own  mind.  So  many  had  fallen 
at  my  side,  so  often  had  balls  and  shells  pierced  and 
torn  my  clothing,  grazing  my  body  without  drawing  a 
drop  of  blood,  that  a  sort  of  blind  faith  possessed  my 
men  that  I  was  not  to  be  killed  in  battle.  This  be 
lief  was  evidenced  by  their  constantly  repeated  expres 
sions  :  "  They  can't  hurt  him."  "  He  's  as  safe  one  place 
as  another."  "  He  's  got  a  charmed  life." 

If  I  had  allowed  these  expressions  of  my  men  to  have 
any  effect  upon  my  mind  the  impression  was  quickly 
dissipated  when  the  Sharpsburg  storm  came  and  the 
whizzing  Minies,  one  after  another,  began  to  pierce  my 
body. 


ANTIETAM  89 

The  first  volley  from  the  Union  lines  in  my  front  sent 
a  ball  through  the  brain  of  the  chivalric  Colonel  Tew,  of 
North  Carolina,  to  whom  I  was  talking,  and  another  ball 
through  the  calf  of  my  right  leg.  On  the  right  and  the 
left  my  men  were  falling  under  the  death-dealing  cross 
fire  like  trees  in  a  hurricane.  The  persistent  Federals, 
who  had  lost  so  heavily  from  repeated  repulses,  seemed 
now  determined  to  kill  enough  Confederates  to  make  the 
debits  and  credits  of  the  battle's  balance-sheet  more 
nearly  even.  Both  sides  stood  in  the  open  at  short  range 
and  without  the  semblance  of  breastworks,  and  the  firing 
was  doing  a  deadly  work.  Higher  up  in  the  same  leg  I 
was  again  shot;  but  still  no  bone  was  broken.  I  was 
able  to  walk  along  the  line  and  give  encouragement  to 
my  resolute  riflemen,  who  were  firing  with  the  coolness 
and  steadiness  of  peace  soldiers  in  target  practice. 
When  later  in  the  day  the  third  ball  pierced  my  left 
arm,  tearing  asunder  the  tendons  and  mangling  the  flesh, 
they  caught  sight  of  the  blood  running  down  my  fingers, 
and  these  devoted  and  big-hearted  men,  while  still  load 
ing  their  guns,  pleaded  with  me  to  leave  them  and  go  to 
the  rear,  pledging  me  that  they  would  stay  there  and 
fight  to  the  last.  I  could  not  consent  to  leave  them  in 
such  a  crisis.  The  surgeons  were  all  busy  at  the  field- 
hospitals  in  the  rear,  and  there  was  no  way,  therefore,  of 
stanching  the  blood,  but  I  had  a  vigorous  constitution, 
and  this  was  doing  me  good  service. 

A  fourth  ball  ripped  through  my  shoulder,  leaving  its 
base  and  a  wad  of  clothing  in  its  track.  I  eould  still 
stand  and  walk,  although  the  shocks  and  loss  of  blood 
had  left  but  little  of  my  normal  strength.  1  remembered 
the  pledge  to  the  commander  that  we  would  stay  there 
till  the  battle  ended  or  night  came.  I  looked  at  the  sun. 
It  moved  very  slowly;  in  fact,  it  seemed  to  stand  still. 
I  thought  I  saw  some  wavering  in  my  line,  near  the 
extreme  right,  and  Private  Vickers,  of  Alabama,  volun- 


90    KEMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAB 

teered  to  carry  any  orders  I  might  wish  to  send.  I 
directed  him  to  go  quickly  and  remind  the  men  of  the 
pledge  to  General  Lee,  and  to  say  to  them  that  I  was 
still  on  the  field  and  intended  to  stay  there.  He  bounded 
away  like  an  Olympic  racer ;  but  he  had  gone  less  than 
fifty  yards  when  he  fell,  instantly  killed  by  a  ball  through 
his  head.  I  then  attempted  to  go  myself,  although  I  was 
bloody  and  faint,  and  my  legs  did  not  bear  me  steadily. 
I  had  gone  but  a  short  distance  when  I  was  shot  down 
by  a  fifth  ball,  which  struck  me  squarely  in  the  face, 
and  passed  out,  barely  missing  the  jugular  vein.  I  fell 
forward  and  lay  unconscious  with  my  face  in  my  cap ; 
and  it  would  seem  that  I  might  have  been  smothered 
by  the  blood  running  into  my  cap  from  this  last  wound 
but  for  the  act  of  some  Yankee,  who,  as  if  to  save  my 
life,  had  at  a  previous  hour  during  the  battle,  shot  a 
hole  through  the  cap,  which  let  the  blood  out. 

I  was  borne  on  a  litter  to  the  rear,  and  recall  nothing 
more  till  revived  by  stimulants  at  a  late  hour  of  the 
night.  I  found  myself  lying  on  a  pile  of  straw  at  an  old 
barn,  where  our  badly  wounded  were  gathered.  My 
faithful  surgeon,  Dr.  Weatherly,  who  was  my  devoted 
friend,  was  at  my  side,  with  his  fingers  on  my  pulse. 
As  I  revived,  his  face  was  so  expressive  of  distress 
that  I  asked  him :  "  What  do  you  think  of  my  case, 
Weatherly?"  He  made  a  manly  effort  to  say  that  he 
was  hopeful.  I  knew  better,  and  said :  "  You  are  not 
honest  with  me.  You  think  I  am  going  to  die ;  but  I 
am  going  to  get  well."  Long  afterward,  when  the  dan 
ger  was  past,  he  admitted  that  this  assurance  was  his 
first  and  only  basis  of  hope. 

General  George  B.  Anderson,  of  North  Carolina,  whose 
troops  were  on  my  right,  was  wounded  in  the  foot,  but, 
it  was  thought,  not  severely.  That  superb  man  and  sol 
dier  was  dead  in  a  few  weeks,  though  his  wound  was 
supposed  to  be  slight,  while  I  was  mercifully  sustained 


ANTIETAM  91 

through  a  long  battle  with  wounds  the  combined  effect 
of  which  was  supposed  to  be  fatal.  Such  are  the  mys 
terious  concomitants  of  cruel  war. 

Mrs.  Gordon  was  soon  with  me.  When  it  was  known 
that  the  battle  was  on,  she  had  at  once  started  toward 
the  front.  The  doctors  were  doubtful  about  the  pro 
priety  of  admitting  her  to  my  room ;  but  I  told  them  to 
let  her  come.  I  was  more  apprehensive  of  the  effect  of 
the  meeting  upon  her  nerves  than  upon  mine.  My  face 
was  black  and  shapeless— so  swollen  that  one  eye  was 
entirely  hidden  and  the  other  nearly  so.  My  right  leg 
and  left  arm  and  shoulder  were  bandaged  and  propped 
with  pillows.  I  knew  she  would  be  greatly  shocked. 
As  she  reached  the  door  and  looked,  I  saw  at  once  that 
I  must  reassure  her.  Summoning  all  my  strength,  I 
said:  "Here's  your  handsome  (?)  husband;  been  to  an 
Irish  wedding."  Her  answer  was  a  suppressed  scream, 
whether  of  anguish  or  relief  at  finding  me  able  to  speak, 
I  do  not  know.  Thenceforward,  for  the  period  in  which 
my  life  hung  in  the  balance,  she  sat  at  my  bedside,  try 
ing  to  supply  concentrated  nourishment  to  sustain  me 
against  the  constant  drainage.  With  my  jaw  immov 
ably  set,  this  was  exceedingly  difficult  and  discourag 
ing.  My  own  confidence  in  ultimate  recovery,  how 
ever,  was  never  shaken  until  erysipelas,  that  deadly  foe 
of  the  wounded,  attacked  my  left  arm.  The  doctors  told 
Mrs.  Gordon  to  paint  my  arm  above  the  wound  three  or 
four  times  a  day  with  iodine.  She  obeyed  the  doctors 
by  painting  it,  I  think,  three  or  four  hundred  times  a 
day.  Under  God's  providence,  I  owe  my  life  to  her  in 
cessant  watchfulness  night  and  day,  and  to  her  tender 
nursing  through  weary  weeks  and  anxious  months. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CHANCELLOKSVILLE 

A  long  convalescence— Enlivened  by  the  author  of  "Georgia  Scenes7' 
—The  movement  upon  Hooker's  army  at  Chancellorsville  — Remark 
able  interview  between  Lee  and  Stonewall  Jackson— The  secret  of 
Jackson's  character— The  storming  of  Marye's  Heights— Some 
famous  war-horses. 

IT  was  nearly  seven  months  after  the  battle  of  Antietam, 
or  Sharpsburg,  before  I  was  able  to  return  to  my 
duties  at  the  front.  Even  then  the  wound  through  my 
face  had  not  healed ;  but  Nature,  at  last,  did  her  perfect 
work,  and  thus  deprived  the  army  surgeons  of  a  pro 
posed  operation.  Although  my  enforced  absence  from 
the  army  was  prolonged  and  tedious,  it  was  not  without 
its  incidents  and  interest.  Some  of  the  simple-hearted 
people  who  lived  in  remote  districts  had  quaint  concep 
tions  of  the  size  of  an  army.  One  of  these,  a  matron 
about  fifty  years  of  age,  came  a  considerable  distance  to 
sec  me  and  to  inquire  about  her  son.  She  opened  the 
conversation  by  asking :  "  Do  you  know  William  ? " 

"What  William,  madam!" 

"  My  son  William." 

I  replied :  "  Really,  I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  ever 
met  your  son  William  or  not.  Can  you  tell  me  what 
regiment  or  brigade  or  division  or  corps  he  belongs  to  ? " 

She  answered :  "  No,  I  can't,  but  I  know  he  belongs  to 
Gin'al  Lee's  company." 

I  think  the  dear  old  soul  left  with  the  impression  that 

92 


CHANCELLOKSVILLE  93 

I  was  something  of  a  fraud  because  I  did  not  know 
every  man  in  "  Gin'al  Lee's  company"— especially  Wil 
liam. 

After  I  had  begun  to  convalesce,  it  was  my  privilege 
to  be  thrown  with  the  author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes," 
Judge  Augustus  Baldwin  Longstreet,  who  was  widely 
known  in  the  Southern  States  as  an  able  jurist,  a  dis 
tinguished  educator,  and  an  eminent  Methodist  divine, 
as  well  as  a  great  humorist  and  wit.  His  book,  "  Georgia 
Scenes,"  is  now  rarely  seen,  and  it  may  be  interesting  to 
those  who  have  never  known  of  Judge  Longstreet  or  his 
famous  stories  to  give  an  instance  here  of  the  inimitable 
fun  of  this  many-sided  genius,  who  aided  me  in  whiling 
away  the  time  of  my  enforced  absence  from  the  army. 
Judge  Longstreet  was  at  that  time  an  old  man,  but  still 
full  of  the  fire  of  earlier  years,  and  of  that  irresistible 
humor  with  which  his  conversation  sparkled.  On  one 
occasion,  when  a  number  of  gentlemen  were  present,  I 
asked  the  judge  to  give  us  the  facts  which  led  him  to 
write  that  remarkable  story  called  "The  Debating  So 
ciety."  He  said  that  Mr.  McDuffie,  who  afterward  be 
came  one  of  the  South's  great  statesmen,  was  his  class 
mate  and  roommate  at  school.  Both  were  disposed  to 
stir  into  the  monotony  of  school  days  a  little  seasoning 
of  innocent  fun.  During  one  of  the  school  terms,  they 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  select  and  propose  to  the 
society  a  suitable  subject  for  debate.  As  they  left  the 
hall,  Longstreet  said  to  his  friend,  "Now,  McDuffie,  is 
our  chance.  If  we  could  induce  the  society  to  adopt  for 
debate  some  subject  which  sounds  well,  but  in  which 
there  is  no  sense  at  all,  would  n't  it  be  a  great  joke?" 
McDuffie's  reply  was  a  roar  of  laughter.  They  hastened 
to  their  room  to  begin  the  selection  of  the  great  subject 
for  debate.  They  agreed  that  each  should  write  all  the 
high-sounding  phrases  he  could  think  of,  and  then  by 
comparing  notes,  and  combining  the  best  of  both,  they 


94    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

could  make  up  their  report.  They  sat  up  late,  conferring 
and  laughing  at  the  suggestions,  and  at  last  concocted 
the  question,  "Whether  at  public  elections  should  the 
votes  of  faction  predominate  by  internal  suggestions,  or 
the  bias  of  jurisprudence1?"  With  boyish  glee  they  pro 
nounced  their  work  well  done,  and  laughed  themselves 
to  sleep.  On  the  next  morning  their  report  was  to  be 
submitted,  and  the  society  was  to  vote  as  to  its  adoption. 
They  arose  early,  full  of  confidence  in  their  ability  to 
palm  off  this  wonderful  subject  on  the  society;  for  they 
reasoned  thus :  no  boy  will  be  willing  to  admit  that  he 
is  less  intelligent  or  less  able  to  comprehend  great  public 
questions  or  metaphysical  subjects  than  the  committee, 
and  therefore  each  one  of  them  will  at  once  pretend  to 
be  delighted  at  the  selection,  and  depend  upon  reading 
and  investigation  to  prepare  himself  for  the  following 
week's  debate  upon  it.  They  had  not  miscalculated  the 
chances  of  success,  nor  underestimated  the  boyish  pride 
of  their  schoolmates.  The  question  was  unanimously 
adopted. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  any  conception  of  Judge  Long- 
street's  description  of  the  debate  upon  the  question ;  of 
how  he  and  McDuffie  led  off  with  thoroughly  prepared 
speeches  full  of  resounding  rhetoric  and  rounded  periods, 
but  as  devoid  of  sense  as  the  subject  itself,  the  one  argu 
ing  the  affirmative,  the  other  the  negative  of  the  propo 
sition.  Nor  shall  I  attempt  any  description  of  Judge 
Longstreet's  wonderful  mimicry  of  the  boys,  many  of 
whom  became  men  of  distinction  in  after  years ;  of  how 
they  stammered  and  struggled  and  agonized  in  the  effort 
to  rise  to  the  height  of  the  great  argument ;  and  finally, 
of  the  effort  of  the  president  of  the  society,  who  was,  of 
course,  one  of  the  schoolboys,  to  sum  up  the  points  made 
and  determine  on  which  side  were  the  weightiest  and 
most  cogent  arguments.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  I  recall 
with  grateful  pleasure  the  hours  spent  during  my  con- 


CHANCELLORS  VILLE  95 

valescence  in  the  presence  of  this  remarkable  man.  His 
inimitable  and  delicate  humor  was  the  sunshine  of  his 
useful  and  laborious  life,  and  will  remain  a  bright  spot 
in  my  recollections  of  the  sixties. 

On  my  return  to  the  army,  I  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  perhaps  the  largest  brigade  in  the  Confed 
erate  army,  composed  of  six  regiments  from  my  own 
State,  Georgia.  No  more  superb  material  ever  filled  the 
ranks  of  any  command  in  any  army.  It  was,  of  course, 
a  most  trying  moment  to  my  sensibilities  when  the  time 
came  for  my  parting  from  the  old  command  with  which 
I  had  passed  through  so  many  scenes  of  bitter  trial ;  but 
these  men  were  destined  to  come  back  to  me  again.  It 
is  trite,  but  worth  the  repetition,  to  say  that  there  are 
few  ties  stronger  and  more  sacred  than  those  which  bind 
together  in  immortal  fellowship  men  who  with  unfalter 
ing  faith  in  each  other  have  passed  through  such  scenes 
of  terror  and  blood. 

Years  afterward,  my  daughter  met  a  small  son  of  one 
of  these  brave  comrades,  and  asked  him  his  name. 

"  Gordon  Wright,"  was  his  prompt  reply. 

"  And  for  whom  are  you  named,  Gordon  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  miss,"  he  answered,  "  but  I  believe  my 
mamma  said  I  was  named  for  General  Lee." 

I  had  been  with  my  new  command  but  a  short  time 
when  the  great  battle  of  Chancellorsville  occurred.  It 
was  just  before  this  bloody  engagement  that  my  young 
brother  had  so  accurately  and  firmly  predicted  his  own 
death,  and  it  was  here  the  immortal  Jackson  fell.  I 
never  write  or  pronounce  this  name  without  an  impulse 
to  pause  in  veneration  for  that  American  phenomenon. 
The  young  men  of  this  country  cannot  study  the  char 
acter  of  General  Jackson  without  benefit  to  their  man 
hood,  and  for  those  who  are  not  familiar  with  his  char 
acteristics  I  make  this  descriptive  allusion  to  him. 

As  to  whether  he  fell  by  the  fire  of  his  own  men,  or 


96    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

from  that  of  the  Union  men  in  his  front,  will  perhaps 
never  be  definitely  determined.  The  general,  the  almost 
universal,  belief  at  the  South  is  that  he  was  killed  by  a 
volley  from  the  Confederate  lines ;  but  I  have  had  grave 
doubts  of  this  raised  in  my  own  mind  by  conversations 
with  thoughtful  Union  officers  who  were  at  the  time  in 
his  front  and  near  the  point  where  he  was  killed.  It 
seems  to  me  quite  possible  that  the  fatal  ball  might  have 
come  from  either  army.  This  much-mooted  question  as 
to  the  manner  of  his  death  is,  however,  of  less  conse 
quence  than  the  manner  of  his  life.  Any  life  of  such 
nobility  and  strength  must  always  be  a  matter  of  vital 
import  and  interest. 

At  the  inception  of  the  movement  upon  General 
Hooker's  army  at  Chancellorsville,  a  remarkable  inter 
view  occurred  between  General  Lee  and  General  Jack 
son,  which  is  of  peculiar  interest  because  it  illustrates, 
in  a  measure,  the  characteristics  of  both  these  great 
soldiers. 

It  was  repeated  to  me  soon  after  its  occurrence,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Lacey,  who  was  with  them  at  the  time  Jackson 
rode  up  to  the  Commander-in-Chief,  and  said  to  him: 
"General  Lee,  this  is  not  the  best  way  to  move  on 
Hooker." 

"Well,  General  Jackson,  you  must  remember  that  I 
am  compelled  to  depend  to  some  extent  upon  informa 
tion  furnished  me  by  others,  especially  by  the  engineers, 
as  to  the  topography,  the  obstructions,  etc.,  and  these 
engineers  are  of  the  opinion  that  this  is  a  very  good  way 
of  approach." 

"Your  engineers  are  mistaken,  sir." 

"  What  do  you  know,  about  it,  General  Jackson  ?  You 
have  not  had  time  to  examine  the  situation." 

"  But  I  have,  sir ;  I  have  ridden  over  the  whole  field." 

And  he  had.  Riding  with  the  swiftness  of  the  wind 
and  looking  with  the  eye  of  an  eagle,  he  had  caught  the 


CHANCELLOESVILLE  97 

strong  and  weak  points  of  the  entire  situation,  and  was 
back  on  his  panting  steed  at  the  great  commander's  side 
to  assure  him  that  there  was  a  better  route. 
"  Then  what  is  to  be  done,  General  Jackson  ?  " 
"  Take   the    route   you  yourself    at   first    suggested. 
Move  on  the  flank— move  on  the  flank." 

"  Then  you  will  at  once  make  the  movement,  sir." 
Immediately  and  swiftly,  Jackson's  "  foot  cavalry,"  as 
they  were  called,  were  rushing  along  a  byway  through 
the  dense  woodland.  Soon  the  wild  shout  of  his  charge 
was  heard  on  the  flank  and  his  red  cross  of  battle  was 
floating  over  General  Hooker's  breastworks. 

General  Hooker,  "Fighting  Joe,"  as  he  was  proudly 
called  by  his  devoted  followers,  and  whom  it  was  my 
pleasure  to  meet  and  to  know  well  after  the  war,  was 
one  of  the  brilliant  soldiers  of  the  Union  army.  He  was 
afterward  hailed  as  the  hero  of  the  "  Battle  of  the 
Clouds  "  at  Lookout  Mountain,  and  whatever  may  be  said 
of  the  small  force  which  he  met  in  the  fight  upon  that 
mountain's  sides  and  top,  the  conception  was  a  bold  one. 
It  is  most  improbable  that  General  Hooker  was  informed 
as  to  the  number  of  Confederates  he  was  to  meet  in  the 
effort  to  capture  the  high  and  rugged  Point  Lookout, 
which  commanded  a  perfect  view  of  the  city  of  Chat 
tanooga  and  the  entire  field  of  operations  around  it. 
His  movement  through  the  dense  underbrush,  up  the 
rocky  steeps,  and  over  the  limestone  cliffs  was  executed 
with  a  celerity  and  dash  which  reflected  high  credit  upon 
both  the  commander  and  his  men.  Among  these  men, 
by  the  way,  was  one  of  those  merrymakers— those  dis 
pensers  of  good  cheer— found  in  both  the  Confederate 
and  Union  armies,  who  were  veritable  fountains  of  good- 
humor,  whose  spirits  glowed  and  sparkled  in  all  situa 
tions,  whether  in  the  camp,  on  the  march,  or  under  fire. 
The  special  role  of  this  one  was  to  entertain  his  com 
rades  with  song,  and  as  Hooker's  men  were  struggling 


98    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

up  die  sides  of  Lookout  Mountain,  climbing  over  the 
huge  rocks,  and  being  picked  off  them  by  the  Confed 
erate  sharpshooters,  this  frolicsome  soldier  amused  and 
amazed  his  comrades  by  singing,  in  stentorian  tones,  his 
droll  camp-song,  the  refrain  of  which  was  "Big  pig, 
little  pig,  root  hog  or  die."  The  singer  was  H.  S.  Cooper, 
now  a  prominent  physician  of  Colorado. 

But  to  return  to  the  consideration  of  General  Jackson's 
character.  Every  right-minded  citizen,  as  well  as  every 
knightly  soldier,  whatever  the  color  of  his  uniform,  will 
appreciate  the  beauty  of  the  tribute  paid  by  General  Lee 
to  General  Jackson,  when  he  received  the  latter's  mes 
sage  announcing  the  loss  of  his  left  arm.  "  Go  tell  Gen 
eral  Jackson,"  said  Lee,  "  that  his  loss  is  small  compared 
to  mine ;  for  while  he  loses  his  left  arm,  I  lose  the  right 
arm  of  my  army."  No  prouder  or  juster  tribute  was 
ever  paid  by  a  great  commander  to  a  soldier  under  him. 

But  a  truth  of  more  importance  than  anything  I  have 
yet  said  of  Jackson  may  be  compassed,  I  think,  in  the 
observation  that  he  added  to  a  marvellous  genius  for 
war  a  character  as  man  and  Christian  which  was  abso 
lutely  without  blemish.  His  childlike  trust  and  faith, 
the  simplicity,  sincerity,  and  constancy  of  his  unosten 
tatious  piety,  did  not  come  with  the  war,  nor  was  it 
changed  by  the  trials  and  dangers  of  war.  If  the  war 
affected  him  at  all  in  this  particular,  it  only  intensified 
his  religious  devotion,  because  of  the  tremendous  re 
sponsibilities  which  it  imposed;  but  long  before,  his 
religious  thought  and  word  and  example  were  leading  to 
the  higher  life  young  men  intrusted  to  his  care,  at  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute.  In  the  army  nothing  de 
terred  or  diverted  him  from  the  discharge  of  his  religious 
duties,  nor  deprived  him  of  the  solace  resulting  from  his 
unaffected  trust.  A  deep-rooted  belief  in  God,  in  His 
word  and  His  providence,  was  under  him  and  over  him 
and  through  him,  permeating  every  fibre  of  his  being, 


CHANCELLORSVILLE  99 

dominating  his  every  thought,  controlling  his  every 
action.  Wherever  he  went  and  whatever  he  did,  whether 
he  was  dispensing  light  and  joy  in  the  family  circle ;  im 
parting  lessons  of  lofty  thought  to  his  pupils  in  the 
schoolroom  at  Lexington ;  planning  masterful  strategy 
in  his  tent ;  praying  in  the  woods  for  Heaven's  guidance ; 
or  riding  like  the  incarnate  spirit  of  war  through  the 
storm  of  battle,  as  his  resistless  legions  swept  the  field 
of  carnage  with  the  fury  of  a  tornado— Stonewall  Jack 
son  was  the  faithful  disciple  of  his  Divine  Master.  He 
died  as  he  had  lived,  with  his  ever-active  and  then  fevered 
brain  working  out  the  problems  to  which  his  duty  called 
him,  and,  even  with  the  chill  of  death  upon  him,  his  lov 
ing  heart  prompted  the  message  to  his  weary  soldiers, 
"  Let  us  cross  over  the  river  and  rest  in  the  shade  of 
the  trees."  That  his  own  spirit  will  eternally  rest  in  the 
shade  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  none  who  knew  him  can  for 
one  moment  doubt. 

An  incident  during  this  battle  illustrates  the  bounding 
spirits  of  that  great  cavalry  leader,  General  "  Jeb  "  Stu 
art.  After  Jackson's  fall,  Stuart  was  designated  to  lead 
Jackson's  troops  in  the  final  charge.  The  soul  of  this 
brilliant  cavalry  commander  was  as  full  of  sentiment  as 
it  was  of  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  He  was  as  musical 
as  he  was  brave.  He  sang  as  he  fought.  Placing  him 
self  at  the  head  of  Jackson's  advancing  lines  and  shout 
ing  to  them  "  Forward,"  he  at  once  led  off  in  that  song, 
"  Won't  you  come  out  of  the  wilderness  !  "  He  changed 
the  words  to  suit  the  occasion.  Through  the  dense 
woodland,  blending  in  strange  harmony  with  the  rattle 
of  rifles,  could  be  distinctly  heard  that  song  and  words, 
"Now,  Joe  Hooker,  won't  you  come  out  of  the  wilder 
ness!"  This  dashing  Confederate  lost  his  life  later  in 
battle  near  Richmond. 

While  the  battle  was  progressing  at  Chancellorsville, 
near  which  point  Lee's  left  rested,  his  right  extended  to 


100  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

or  near  Fredericksburg.  Early 's  division  held  this  posi 
tion,  and  my  brigade  the  right  of  that  division;  and  it 
was  determined  that  General  Early  should  attempt,  near 
sunrise,  to  retake  the  fort  on  Marye's  Heights,  from 
which  the  Confederates  had  been  driven  the  day  before. 
I  was  ordered  to  move  with  this  new  brigade,  with  which 
I  had  never  been  in  battle,  and  to  lead  in  that  assault ; 
at  least,  such  was  my  interpretation  of  the  order  as  it 
reached  me.  Whether  it  was  my  fault  or  the  fault  of 
the  wording  of  the  order  itself,  I  am  not  able  to  say; 
but  there  was  a  serious  misunderstanding  about  it.  My 
brigade  was  intended,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  to  be  only 
a  portion  of  the  attacking  force,  whereas  I  had  under 
stood  the  order  to  direct  me  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
assault  upon  the  fort ;  and  I  proceeded.  As  I  was  offi 
cially  a  comparative  stranger  to  the  men  of  this  brigade, 
I  said  in  a  few  sentences  to  them  that  we  should  know 
each  other  better  when  the  battle  of  the  day  was  over ; 
that  I  trusted  we  should  go  together  into  that  fort,  and 
that  if  there  were  a  man  in  the  brigade  who  did  not  wish 
to  go  with  us,  I  would  excuse  him  if  he  would  step  to 
the  front  and  make  himself  known.  Of  course,  there 
was  no  man  found  who  desired  to  be  excused,  and  I  then 
announced  that  every  man  in  that  splendid  brigade  of 
Georgians  had  thus  declared  his  purpose  to  go  into  the 
fortress.  They  answered  this  announcement  by  a  pro 
longed  and  thrilling  shout,  and  moved  briskly  to  the 
attack.  When  we  were  under  full  headway  and  under 
fire  from  the  heights,  I  received  an  order  to  halt,  with 
the  explanation  that  the  other  troops  were  to  unite  in 
the  assault;  but  the  order  had  come  too  late.  My  men 
were  already  under  heavy  fire  and  were  n earing  the  fort. 
They  were  rushing  upon  it  with  tremendous  impetuosity. 
I  replied  to  the  order  that  it  was  too  late  to  halt  then, 
and  that  a  few  minutes  more  would  decide  the  result  of 
the  charge.  General  Early  playfully  but  earnestly  re- 


CHANCELLOE &VJ I, Jj K  \  \  101 

marked,  after  the  fort  was  taken,  that  success  had  saved 
me  from  being  court-martialed  for  disobedience  to  orders. 
During  this  charge  I  came  into  possession  of  a  most 
remarkable  horse,  whose  fine  spirit  convinced  me  that 
horses  now  and  then,  in  the  furor  of  fight,  were  almost 
as  sentient  as  their  riders.  This  was  especially  true  of 
the  high-strung  thoroughbreds.  At  least,  such  was  my 
experience  with  a  number  of  the  noble  animals  I  rode, 
some  of  which  it  was  my  painful  fortune  to  leave  on  the 
field  as  silent  witnesses  of  the  storm  which  had  passed 
over  it.  At  Marye's  Heights,  the  horse  which  I  had  rid 
den  into  the  fight  was  exhausted  in  my  effort  to  per 
sonally  watch  every  portion  of  my  line  as  it  swept 
forward,  and  he  had  been  in  some  way  partially  dis 
abled,  so  that  his  movements  became  most  unsatisfac 
tory.  At  this  juncture  the  beautiful  animal  to  which  I 
have  referred,  and  from  which  a  Union  officer  had  just 
been  shot,  galloped  into  our  lines.  I  was  quickly  upon 
her  back,  and  she  proved  to  be  the  most  superb  battle- 
horse  that  it  was  my  fortune  to  mount  during  the  war. 
For  ordinary  uses  she  was  by  no  means  remarkable— 
merely  a  good  saddle  animal,  which  Mrs.  Gordon  often 
rode  in  camp,  and  which  I  called  "  Marye,"  from  the 
name  of  the  hill  where  she  was  captured.  Indeed,  she 
was  ordinarily  rather  sluggish,  and  required  free  use  of 
the  spur.  But  when  the  battle  opened  she  was  abso 
lutely  transformed.  She  seemed  at  once  to  catch  the 
ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  the  men  around  her.  The  bones 
of  her  legs  were  converted  into  steel  springs  and  her 
sinews  into  india-rubber.  With  head  up  and  nostrils 
distended,  her  whole  frame  seemed  to  thrill  with  a  de 
light  akin  to  that  of  foxhounds  when  the  hunter's  horn 
summons  them  to  the  chase.  With  the  ease  of  an  ante 
lope,  she  would  bound  across  ditches  and  over  fences 
which  no  amount  of  coaxing  or  spurring  could  induce 
her  to  undertake  when  not  under  the  excitement  of 


102   REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR 

battle.  Her  courage  was  equal  to  her  other  high  quali 
ties.  She  was  afraid  of  nothing.  Neither  the  shouting 
of  troops,  nor  the  rattle  of  rifles,  nor  the  roar  of  artillery, 
nor  their  bursting  shells,  intimidated  her  in  the  slight 
est  degree.  In  addition  to  all  this,  she  seemed  to  have 
a  charmed  life,  for  she  bore  me  through  the  hottest  fires 
and  was  never  wounded. 

I  recall  another  animal  of  different  temperament, 
turned  over  to  me  by  the  quartermaster,  after  capture, 
in  exchange,  as  usual,  for  one  of  my  own  horses.  In  the 
Valley  of  Virginia,  during  the  retreat  of  the  Union  Gen 
eral,  Milroy,  my  men  captured  a  horse  of  magnificent 
appearance  and  handsomely  caparisoned.  He  was  solid 
black  in  color  and  dangerously  treacherous  in  disposi 
tion.  He  was  brought  to  me  by  his  captors  with  the 
statement  that  he  was  General  Milroy's  horse,  and  he 
was  at  once  christened  "  Milroy "  by  my  men.  I  have 
no  idea  that  he  belonged  to  the  general,  for  that  officer 
was  too  true  a  soldier  to  have  ridden  such  a  beast  in 
battle— certainly  not  after  one  test  of  his  cowardice. 
His  fear  of  Minie  balls  was  absolutely  uncontrollable. 
He  came  near  disgracing  me  in  the  first  and  only  fight 
in  which  I  attempted  to  ride  him.  Indeed,  if  it  had 
chanced  to  be  my  first  appearance  under  fire  with  my 
men,  they  would  probably  have  followed  my  example  as 
they  saw  me  flying  to  the  rear  on  this  elephantine  brute. 
He  was  an  immense  horse  of  unusually  fine  proportions, 
and  had  behaved  very  well  under  the  cannonading ;  but 
as  we  drew  nearer  the  blue  lines  in  front,  and  their  mus 
ketry  sent  the  bullets  whistling  around  his  ears,  he 
wheeled  and  fled  at  such  a  rate  of  speed  that  I  was 
powerless  to  check  him  until  he  had  carried  me  more 
than  a  hundred  yards  to  the  rear.  Fortunately,  some  of 
the  artillerymen  aided  me  in  dismounting,  and  promptly 
gave  me  a  more  reliable  steed,  on  whose  back  I  rapidly 
returned  in  time  to  redeem  my  reputation.  My  obliga- 


CHANCELLOESVILLE  103 

tions  to  General  Milroy  were  very  great  for  having 
evacuated  at  night  the  fort  at  Winchester  (near  which 
this  horse  was  captured),  and  for  permitting  us  to  move 
over  its  deserted  and  silent  ramparts  in  perfect  security ; 
but  if  this  huge  black  horse  were  really  his,  General 
Milroy,  in  leaving  him  for  me,  had  cancelled  all  the  obli 
gations  under  which  he  had  placed  me. 

This  Georgia  brigade,  with  its  six  splendid  regiments, 
whose  war  acquaintance  I  had  made  at  Marye's  Heights, 
contributed  afterward  from  their  pittance  of  monthly 
pay,  and  bought,  without  my  knowledge,  at  a  fabulous 
price,  a  magnificent  horse,  and  presented  him  to  me. 
These  brave  and  self-denying  men  realized  that  such  a 
horse  would  cost  more  than  I  could  pay.  He  gave  me 
great  comfort,  and  I  hoped  that,  like  "  Marye,"  he  might 
go  unscathed  through  successive  battles ;  but  at  Monoc- 
acy,  in  Maryland,  he  paid  the  forfeit  of  his  life  by  com 
ing  in  collision  with  a  whizzing  missile,  as  he  was  proudly 
galloping  along  my  lines,  then  advancing  upon  General 
Lew  Wallace's  forces.  I  deeply  regretted  this  splendid 
animal's  death,  not  only  because  of  his  great  value  at 
the  time,  but  far  more  because  he  was  the  gift  of  my 
gallant  men. 

In  one  of  the  battles  in  the  Wilderness,  in  1864,  and 
during  a  flank  movement,  a  thoroughbred  bay  stallion 
was  captured— a  magnificent  creature,  said  to  have  been 
the  favorite  war-horse  of  General  Shaler,  whom  we  also 
captured.  As  was  customary,  the  horse  was  named  for 
his  former  master,  and  was  known  by  no  other  title  than 
"  General  Shaler."  My  obligations  to  this  horse  are  two 
fold  and  memorable :  he  saved  me  from  capture,  when  I 
had  ridden,  by  mistake,  into  Sedgwick's  corps  by  night ; 
and  at  Appomattox  he  brought  me  enough  greenbacks 
to  save  me  from  walking  back  to  Georgia.  He  was  so 
handsome  that  a  Union  officer,  who  was  a  judge  of 
horses,  asked  me  if  I  wished  to  sell  him.  I  at  once  as- 


104    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

sured  this  officer  that  I  would  be  delighted  to  sell  the 
horse  or  anything  else  I  possessed,  as  I  had  not  a  dollar 
except  Confederate  money,  which,  at  that  period  of  its 
history,  was  somewhat  below  par.  The  officer,  General 
Curtin,  of  Pennsylvania,  generously  paid  me  in  green 
backs  more  than  I  asked  for  the  horse.  I  met  this  gen 
tleman  in  1894,  nearly  thirty  years  afterward,  at  Wil- 
liamsport,  Pennsylvania.  He  gratified  me  again  by  in 
forming  me  that  he  had  sold  "  General  Shaler "  for  a 
much  higher  price  than  he  paid  me  for  him.1 

If  there  is  a  hereafter  for  horses,  as  there  is  a  heaven 
for  the  redeemed  among  men,  I  fear  that  the  old  black 
traitor  that  ran  away  with  me  from  the  fight  will  never 
reach  it,  but  the  brave  and  trusty  steeds  that  so  gallantly 
bore  their  riders  through  our  American  Civil  War  will 
not  fail  of  admittance. 

Job  wrote  of  the  war-horse  that  "smelleth  the  battle 
from  afar  off."  Alexander  the  Great  had  his  "Buceph 
alus,"  that  dashed  away  as  if  on  wings  as  his  daring 
master  mounted  him.  Zachary  Taylor  had  his  "Old 
Whity,"  from  whose  mane  and  tail  the  American  patri 
ots  pulled  for  souvenirs  nearly  all  the  hairs,  as  he  grazed 
on  the  green  at  the  White  House.  Lee  had  his  "  Trav 
eller,"  whose  memory  is  perpetuated  in  enduring  bronze. 
Stonewall  Jackson  had  his  high-mettled  "Old  Sorrel," 
whose  life  was  nursed  with  tenderest  care  long  after  the 
death  of  his  immortal  rider ;  but  if  I  were  a  poet  I  would 
ignore  them  all  and  embalm  in  song  my  own  glorious 
"  Marye,"  whose  spirit  I  would  know  was  that  of  Joan  of 
Arc,  if  the  transmigration  of  souls  were  true. 

1  Since  writing  this  chapter,  I  have  learned  that  this  horse  was  a  noted  an- 
vmal  in  the  Union  army,  and  had  been  named  "  Abe,"  for  President  Lincoln, 


CHAPTER  IX 

WAR  BY  THE  BRAVE  AGAINST  THE  BRAVE 

The  spirit  of  good-fellowship  between  Union  and  Confederate  soldiers-— 
Disappearance  of  personal  hatred  as  the  war  progressed— The  Union 
officer  who  attended  a  Confederate  dance — American  chivalry  at 
Vicksburg— Trading  between  pickets  on  the  Rappahannock— Inci 
dents  of  the  bravery  of  color-bearers  on  both  sides— General  Curtis's 
kindness — A  dash  for  life  cheered  by  the  enemy. 

THAT  inimitable  story-teller,  Governor  Robert  Tay 
lor,  of  Tennessee,  delights  his  hearers  by  telling  in 
charming  style  of  a  faithful  colored  man,  Allen,  a  slave 
of  his  father's.  Both  Allen  and  his  owner  were  preachers, 
and  Allen  was  in  the  habit  each  Saturday  afternoon  of 
going  to  his  master  and  learning  from  him  what  his  text 
for  the  following  clay's  sermon  would  be.  On  this  occa 
sion  the  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor  informed  the  Rev.  Allen  that 
his  text  for  the  morrow  would  be  the  words,  "  And  he 
healed  them  of  divers  diseases."  "  Yes,  sir,"  said  Allen ; 
dat's  a  mighty  good  tex7,  and  hit  will  be  mine  for  my 
Sunday  sarmon."  Sunday  came  and  Allen  was  ready. 
He  announced  his  "  tex' "  in  these  words :  "  And  ho 
healed  'em  of  all  sorts  of  diseases,  and  even  of  dat  wu^t 
of  complaints  called  de  divers."  Proceeding  to  an  eluci 
dation  of  his  text,  he  described  with  much  particularity 
the  different  kinds  of  diseases  that  earthly  doctors  could 
cure,  and  then,  with  deepest  unction,  said :  "  But,  my  con 
gregation,  if  de  divers  ever  gits  one  of  you,  jest  make 
up  your  mind  you's  a  gone  nigger,  'cep'in'  de  Lord 
save  you." 

105 


106    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

In  1861  a  disorder  had  taken  possession  of  the  minds 
of  the  people  in  every  section  of  the  country.  Inter 
necine  war,  contagious,  infectious,  confluent,  was  spread 
ing,  and  destined  to  continue  spreading  until  nearly  every 
home  in  the  land  was  affected  and  hurt  by  it.  This 
dreadful  disease  had  about  it  some  wonderful  compensa 
tions.  No  one  went  through  it  from  a  high  sense  of 
duty  without  coming  out  of  it  a  braver,  a  better,  and  a 
more  consecrated  man.  It  is. a  great  mistake  to  suppose 
that  war  necessarily  demoralizes  and  makes  obdurate 
those  who  wage  it.  Doubtless  wars  of  conquest,  for  the 
sake  of  conquest,  for  the  purpose  of  despoiling  the  van 
quished  and  enriching  the  victors,  and  all  wars  inaugu 
rated  from  unhallowed  motives,  do  demoralize  every  man 
engaged  in  them,  from  the  commanding  general  to  the 
privates.  But  such  was  not  the  character  of  our  Civil 
War.  On  the  contrary,  it  became  a  training-school  for 
the  development  of  an  unselfish  and  exalted  manhood, 
which  increased  in  efficiency  from  its  opening  to  its 
close.  At  the  beginning  there  was  personal  antagonism 
and  even  bitterness  felt  by  individual  soldiers  of  the  two 
armies  toward  each  other.  The  very  sight  of  the  uniform 
of  an  opponent  aroused  some  trace  of  anger.  But  this 
was  all  gone  long  before  the  conflict  had  ceased.  It  was 
supplanted  by  a  brotherly  sympathy.  The  spirit  of 
Christianity  swayed  the  hearts  of  many,  and  its  benign 
influence  was  perhaps  felt  by  the  great  majority  of  both 
armies.  The  Rev.  Charles  Lane,  recently  a  member  of 
the  faculty  of  the  Georgia  Technological  Institute,  told 
me  of  a  soldier  who  could  easily  have  captured  or  shot 
his  antagonist  at  night;  but  the  religious  devotion  in 
which  that  foe  at  the  moment  was  engaged  shielded  him 
from  molestation,  and  he  was  left  alone  in  communion 
with  his  God.  That  knightly  soldier  of  the  Confederacy, 
whose  heart  so  promptly  sympathized  with  his  devout 
antagonist,  was  also  a  "  soldier  of  the  cross." 


WAR  BY   BRAVE   AGAINST    BRAVE     107 

The  same  spirit  was  shown  in  the  case  of  a  Pennsyl 
vania  soldier  who  was  attracted  by  the  songs  in  a  Con 
federate  prayer-meeting,  and,  without  the  slightest  fear 
of  being  detained  or  held  as  prisoner,  attempted  in 
broad  daylight  to  cross  over  and  join  the  Confederates 
in  their  worship.  He  was  ordered  back  by  his  own 
pickets ;  but  his  officers  appreciated  his  impulse  and  he 
was  not  subjected  to  the  slightest  punishment.  In  a 
European  army  he  most  likely  would  have  been  shot  for 
attempted  desertion,  although  he  had  made  no  effort 
whatever  to  conceal  his  movements  or  his  purposes. 

The  broadening  of  this  Christian  fellowship  was  plainly 
seen  as  the  war  progressed.  The  best  illustration  of  this 
fact  which  I  now  recall  is  the  contrast  between  the  im 
pulses  which  moved  the  two  soldiers  just  mentioned, 
and  that  which  inspired  the  quaint  prayer  of  a  devout 
Confederate  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  at  the  grave 
of  his  dead  comrade.  He  concluded  his  prayer  in  about 
these  words :  "  And  now,  Lord,  we  commit  the  body  of 
our  comrade  to  the  grave,  with  the  hope  of  meeting  him 
again,  with  all  the  redeemed,  in  that  great  day  and  in  the 
home  prepared  for  thy  children.  For  we  are  taught  to 
believe  that  thy  true  followers  shall  come  from  the  East 
and  West  as  well  as  from  the  South ;  and  we  cannot  help 
hoping,  Lord,  that  a  few  will  come  even  from  the  North." 

It  was  not  alone  in  the  religious  life  of  the  army  that 
these  evidences  of  expanding  brotherhood  were  exhibited. 
I  should,  perhaps,  not  exaggerate  the  number  or  im 
portance  of  these  evidences  if  I  said  that  there  were 
thousands  of  them  which  are  perhaps  the  brightest 
illustrations  and  truest  indices  of  the  American  soldier's 
character. 

In  1896  an  officer  of  the  Union  army  told  me  the  fol 
lowing  story,  which  is  but  a  counterpart  of  many  which 
came  under  my  own  observation.  A  lieutenant  of  a 
Delaware  regiment  was  officer  of  the  picket-line  on  the 


108  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

banks  of  the  Rappahannock.  The  pickets  of  the  two 
armies  were,  as  was  usual  at  that  time,  very  near  each 
other  and  in  almost  constant  communication.  It  was  in 
midwinter  and  no  movements  of  the  armies  were  ex 
pected.  The  Confederate  officer  of  pickets  who  was  on 
duty  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  narrow  stream  asked 
the  Union  lieutenant  if  he  would  not  come  over  after 
dark  and  go  with  him  to  a  farm-house  near  the  lines, 
where  certain  Confederates  had  invited  the  country  girls 
to  a  dance.  The  Union  officer  hesitated,  but  the  Con 
federate  insisted,  and  promised  to  call  for  him  in  a  boat 
after  dark,  and  to  lend  him  a  suit  of  citizen's  clothes, 
and  pledged  his  honor  as  a  soldier  to  see  him  safely  back 
to  his  own  side  before  daylight  the  next  morning.  The 
invitation  was  accepted,  and  at  the  appointed  hour  the 
Confederate's  boat  glided  silently  to  the  place  of  meeting 
on  the  opposite  bank.  The  citizen's  suit  was  a  ludicrous 
fit,  but  it  served  its  purpose.  The  Union  soldier  was  in 
troduced  to  the  country  girls  as  a  new  recruit  just  arrived 
in  camp.  He  enjoyed  the  dance,  and,  returning  with  his 
Confederate  escort,  was  safely  landed  in  his  own  lines 
before  daylight.  Had  the  long  roll  of  the  kettledrum 
summoned  the  armies  to  battle  on  that  same  morning, 
both  these  officers  would  have  been  found  in  the  lines 
under  hostile  ensigns,  fighting  each  other  in  deadly 
conflict. 

In  Kansas  City  recently  an  ex-Confederate  recorded  his 
name  upon  the  hotel  register.  Mr.  James  Locke,  of  Com 
pany  E,  One  Hundredth  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  was 
in  the  same  hotel,  and  observed  the  name  on  the  regis 
ter.  Locke  had  lost  a  leg  at  the  second  Manassas, 
and  a  Confederate  had  carried  him  out  of  the  railroad 
cut  in  which  he  lay  suffering,  and  had  ministered  to 
his  wants  as  best  he  could.  Locke  had  asked  this 
soldier  in  gray  before  leaving  him  to  write  his  name 
in  his  (Locke's)  war  diary.  The  Confederate  did  so, 


WAR  BY   BRAVE  AGAINST   BRAVE     109 

and  was  then  compelled  to  hurry  forward  with  his 
command.  He  had,  however,  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  sol 
dier,  provided  the  suffering  Pennsylvanian  with  a  can 
teen  of  water  before  he  left  him.  There  was  nothing 
unmanly  in  the  moistened  eyes  of  these  brave  men  when 
they  so  unexpectedly  and  after  so  many  years  met  in 
Kansas  City  for  the  first  time  since  they  parted  at  the 
railroad  cut  on  a  Virginia  battle-field. 

This  spirit  of  American  chivalry  was  exhibited  almost 
everywhere  on  the  wonderful  retreat  of  Joseph  E.  John 
ston  before  General  Sherman  from  Dalton  to  Atlanta. 
At  Resaca,  at  Keunesaw,  along  the  banks  of  Peachtree 
Creek,  and  around  Atlanta,  between  the  lines  that  en 
circled  the  doomed  city,  the  same  friendly  greetings 
were  heard  between  the  pickets,  and  the  same  evidences 
of  comradeship  shown  before  the  battles  began  and 
after  they  had  ended.  In  the  trenches  around  Vicks- 
burg,  and  during  its  long  and  terrible  bombardment, 
the  men  in  the  outer  lines  would  call  to  each  other  to 
stop  firing  for  a  while,  that  they  "wanted  to  get  out 
into  fresh  air ! "  The  call  was  always  heeded,  and  both 
sides  poured  out  of  their  bomb-proofs  like  rats  from 
their  holes  when  the  cats  are  away.  And  whenever  an 
order  came  to  open  fire,  or  the  time  had  expired,  they 
would  call :  "  Hello,  there,  Johnnie,"  or  "  Hello,  there, 
Yank,"  as  the  case  might  be.  "  Get  into  your  holes  now ; 
we  are  going  to  shoot." 

What  could  have  been  more  touchingly  beautiful  than 
that  scene  on  the  Rapidan  when,  in  the  April  twilight,  a 
great  band  in  the  Union  army  suddenly  broke  the  still 
ness  with  the  loved  strains  of  "  Hail  Columbia,  Happy 
Land,"  calling  from  the  Union  camps  huzzas  that  rolled 
like  reverberating  thunders  on  the  evening  air.  Then 
from  the  opposite  hills  and  from  Confederate  bands  the 
answer  came  in  the  thrilling  strains  of  "  Dixie."  As  it 
always  does  and  perhaps  always  will,  "  Dixie "  brought 


110    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

from  Southern  throats  an  impassioned  response.  Then, 
as  if  inspired  from  above,  came  the  union  of  both 
in  that  immortal  anthem,  "  Home,  Sweet  Home."  The 
solemn  and  swelling  cadence  of  these  old  familiar  notes 
was  caught  by  both  armies,  and  their  joint  and  loud 
acclamations  made  the  climax  of  one  of  the  most  in 
spiring  scenes  ever  witnessed  in  war. 

The  talking  and  joking,  the  trading  and  "swapping," 
between  the  pickets  and  between  the  lines  became  so 
prevalent  before  the  war  closed  as  to  cause  no  comment 
and  attract  no  special  attention,  except  when  the  inter 
course  led  the  commanding  officers  to  apprehend  that 
important  information  might  be  unwittingly  imparted 
to  the  foe.  On  the  Rapidan  and  Rappahannock,  into 
which  the  former  emptied,  this  rollicking  sort  of  inter 
course  would  have  been  alarming  in  its  intimacy  but  for 
the  perfect  confidence  which  the  officers  of  both  sides  had 
in  their  men.  Even  officers  on  the  opposite  banks  of 
this  narrow  stream  would  now  and  then  declare  a  truce 
among  themselves,  in  order  that  they  might  bathe  in  the 
little  river.  Where  the  water  was  shallow  they  would 
wade  in  and  meet  each  other  in  the  center  arid  shake 
hands,  and  "  swap  n  newspapers  and  barter  Southern  to 
bacco  for  Yankee  coffee.  Where  the  water  was  deep,  so 
that  they  could  not  wade  in  and  "swap,"  they  sent  the 
articles  of  traffic  across  in  miniature  boats,  laden  on  the 
Southern  shore  with  tobacco  and  sailed  across  to  the  Union 
side.  These  little  boats  were  unloaded  by  the  Union  sol 
diers,  reloaded,  and  sent  back  with  Yankee  coffee  for  the 
Confederates.  This  extraordinary  international  com 
merce  was  carried  on  to  such  an  extent  that  the  com 
manders  of  both  armies  concluded  it  was  best  to  stop  it. 
General  Lee  sent  for  me  on  one  occasion  and  instructed 
me  to  break  up  the  traffic.  Riding  along  the  lines,  as  I 
came  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  around  the  point  of  a 
hill  upon  one  of  the  Confederate  posts,  I  discovered  an 


WAR   BY   BRAVE   AGAINST   BRAVE     111 

unusual  commotion  and  confusion.  I  asked:  "What  's 
the  matter  here?  What  is  all  this  confusion  about?" 

"  Nothing  at  all,  sir.     It 's  all  right  here,  general." 

I  expressed  some  doubt  about  its  being  all  right,  when 
the  spokesman  for  the  squad  attempted  to  concoct  some 
absurd  explanation  as  to  their  effort  to  get  ready  to 
"  present  arms  "  to  me  as  I  came  up.  Of  course  I  was 
satisfied  that  this  was  not  true ;  but  I  could  see  no  evi 
dence  of  serious  irregularity.  As  I  started,  however,  I 
looked  back  and  discovered  the  high  weeds  on  the  bank 
shaking,  and  wheeling  my  horse,  I  asked : 

"What  's  the  matter  with  those  weeds!" 

"Nothing  at  all,  sir,"  he  declared;  but  I  ordered  him 
to  break  the  weeds  down.  There  I  found  a  soldier  al 
most  naked.  I  asked : 

"Where  do  you  belong?" 

"Over  yonder,"  he  replied,  pointing  to  the  Union  army 
on  the  other  side. 

"  Arid  what  are  you  doing  here,  sir?" 

"Well,  general,"  he  said,  "I  did  n't  think  it  was  any 
harm  to  come  over  and  see  the  boys  just  a  little  while." 

"What  boys?"  I  asked. 

"  These  Johnnies,"  he  said. 

"  Don't  you  know,  sir,  that  there  is  war  going  on  in 
this  country?"  I  asked. 

"Yes,  general,"  he  replied;  "but  we  are  not  fighting 
now." 

The  fact  that  a  battle  was  not  then  in  progress  given 
as  an  excuse  for  social  visiting  between  opposing  lines 
was  so  absurd  that  it  overturned  my  equilibrium  for  the 
moment.  If  my  men  could  have  known  my  thoughts 
they  would  have  been  as  much  amused  at  my  discomfi 
ture  as  I  was  at  the  Union  visitor's  reasoning.  An  al 
most  irresistible  impulse  to  laugh  outright  was  overcome, 
however,  by  the  necessity  for  maintaining  my  official 
dignity.  My  instructions  from  General  Lee  had  been  to 


112    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

break  up  that  traffic  and  intercourse ;  and  the  slightest 
lowering  of  ray  official  crest  would  have  been  fatal  to 
my  mission.  I  therefore  assumed  the  sternest  aspect 
possible  under  the  circumstances,  and  ordered  the  Union 
soldier  to  stand  up ;  and  I  said  to  him :  "  I  am  going  to 
teach  you,  sir,  that  we  are  at  war.  You  have  no  rights 
here  except  as  prisoner  of  war,  and  I  am  going  to  have 
you  marched  to  Richmond,  and  put  you  in  prison." 

This  terrible  threat  brought  my  own  men  quickly  and 
vigorously  to  his  defense,  and  they  exclaimed:  "Wait  a 
minute,  general.  Don't  send  this  man  to  prison.  We 
invited  him  over  here,  and  we  promised  to  protect  him, 
and  if  you  send  him  away  it  will  just  ruin  our  honor." 

The  object  of  my  threat  had  been  accomplished.  I 
had  badly  frightened  the  Northern  guest  and  his  South 
ern  hosts.  Turning  to  the  scantily  clad  visitor,  I  said : 

"  Now,  sir,  if  I  permit  you  to  go  back  to  your  own 
side,  will  you  solemnly  promise  me,  on  the  honor  of  a 
soldier,  that—"  But  without  waiting  for  me  to  finish  my 
sentence,  and  with  an  emphatic  "Yes,  sir,"  he  leaped 
like  a  bullfrog  into  the  river  and  swam  back. 

I  recall  several  incidents  which  do  not  illustrate  pre 
cisely  the  same  elements  of  character,  but  which  show 
the  heroism  found  on  both  sides,  of  which  I  know  few, 
if  any,  parallels  in  history.  After  the  battle  of  Sharps  - 
burg,  there  was  sent  to  me  as  an  aide  on  my  staff  a  very 
young  soldier,  a  mere  stripling.  He  was  at  that  awk 
ward,  gawky  age  through  which  all  boys  seem  to  pass. 
He  bore  a  letter,  however,  from  the  Hon.  Thomas  Watts, 
of  Alabama,  who  was  the  Attorney-General  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  and  who  assured  me  that  this  lad  had 
in  him  all  the  essentials  of  a  true  soldier.  It  was  not 
long  before  I  found  that  Mr.  Watts  had  not  mistaken 
the  mettle  of  his  young  friend,  Thomas  G.  Jones. 
Late  one  evening,  near  sunset,  I  directed  Jones  to  carry 
a  message  from  me  to  General  Lee  or  to  my  immediate 


WAR  BY  BRAVE  AGAINST  BRAVE     113 

superior.  The  route  was  through  pine  thickets  and 
along  dim  roads  or  paths  not  easily  followed.  The 
Union  pickets  were  posted  at  certain  points  in  these 
dense  woods;  but  Jones  felt  sure  that  he  could  go 
through  safely.  Alone  on  horseback  he  started  on  his 
hazardous  ride.  Darkness  overtook  him  before  he  had 
emerged  from  the  pine  thicket,  and  he  rode  into  a  body 
of  Union  pickets,  supposing  them  to  be  Confederates. 
There  were  six  men  on  that  post.  They  seized  the  bridle 
of  Jones's  horse,  levelled  their  rifles  at  him,  and  ordered 
him  to  dismount.  As  there  was  no  alternative,  one  can 
imagine  that  Jones  was  not  slow  in  obeying  the  order. 
His  captors  were  evidently  new  recruits,  for  they  neg 
lected  to  deprive  him  of  the  six-shooter  at  his  belt. 
Jones  even  then  had  in  him  the  oratorical  power  which 
afterward  won  for  him  distinction  at  the  bar  and  helped 
to  make  him  governor  of  the  great  State  of  Alabama.  He 
soon  engaged  his  captors  in  the  liveliest  conversation, 
telling  them  anecdotes  and  deeply  enlisting  their  interest 
in  his  stories.  The  night  was  cold,  and  before  daylight 
Jones  adroitly  proposed  to  the  "  boys  "  that  they  should 
make  a  fire,  as  there  was  no  reason  for  shivering  in  the 
cold  with  plenty  of  pine  sticks  around  them.  The  sug 
gestion  was  at  once  accepted,  and  Jones  began  to  gather 
sticks.  The  men,  unwilling  for  him  to  do  all  the  work, 
laid  down  their  guns  and  began  to  share  in  this  labor. 
Jones  saw  his  opportunity,  and  burning  with  mortifi 
cation  at  his  failure  to  carry  through  my  message,  he 
leaped  to  the  pile  of  guns,  drew  his  revolver,  and  said  to 
the  men :  "  I  can  kill  every  one  of  you  before  you  can 
get  to  me.  Fall  into  line.  I  will  put  a  bullet  through 
the  first  man  who  moves  toward  me ! "  He  delivered 
those  six  prisoners  at  my  headquarters. 

I  do  not  now  recall  the  name  of  the  Confederate  who 
was  selected,  on  account  of  his  conspicuous  courage,  as 
the  color-bearer  of  his  regiment,  and  who  vowed  as  he 


114   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR 

received  the  flag  that  he  would  never  surrender  it.  At 
Gaines's  Mill  he  fell  in  the  forefront  of  the  fight  with  a 
mortal  wound  through  his  body.  Raising  himself  on  his 
elbow,  he  quietly  tore  his  battle-flag  from  the  staff,  folded 
it  under  him,  and  died  upon  it. 

At  Big  Falls,  North  Carolina,  there  lived  in  1897  a 
one-armed  soldier  whose  heroism  will  be  cited  by  orators 
and  poets  as  long  as  heroism  is  cherished  by  men.  He 
was  a  color-bearer  of  his  regiment,  the  Thirteenth  North 
Carolina.  In  a  charge  during  the  first  day's  battle  at 
Gettysburg,  his  right  arm,  with  which  he  bore  the  colors, 
was  shivered  and  almost  torn  from  its  socket.  Without 
halting  or  hesitating,  he  seized  the  falling  flag  in  his  left 
hand,  and,  with  his  blood  spouting  from  the  severed 
arteries  and  his  right  arm  dangling  in  shreds  at  his  side, 
he  still  rushed  to  the  front,  shouting  to  his  comrades: 
"  Forward,  forward ! "  The  name  of  that  modest  and 
gallant  soldier  is  W.  F.  Faucette. 

At  Gettysburg  a  Union  color-bearer  of  one  of  General 
Barlow's  regiments,  which  were  guarding  the  right  flank 
of  General  Meade's  army,  exhibited  a  similar  dauntless 
devotion  in  defence  of  his  colors.  As  my  command 
charged  across  the  ravine  and  up  its  steep  declivity, 
along  which  were  posted  the  Union  troops,  the  fight 
became  on  portions  of  the  line  a  hand-to-hand  struggle. 
This  lion-hearted  color-bearer  of  a  Union  regiment  stood 
firmly  in  his  place,  refusing  to  fly,  to  yield  his  ground, 
or  to  surrender  his  flag.  As  the  Confederates  crowded 
around  him  and  around  the  stalwart  men  who  still  stood 
firmly  by  him,  he  became  engaged  in  personal  combat 
with  the  color-bearer  of  one  of  my  Georgia  regiments. 
What  his  fate  was  I  do  not  now  recall,  but  I  trust  and 
believe  that  his  life  was  spared. 

I  sincerely  pity  the  man  who  calls  himself  an  American 
and  who  does  not  find  in  these  exhibitions  of  American 
manhood  on  either  side,  a  stimulant  to  his  pride  as  an 


WAR  BY  BRAVE   AGAINST   BRAVE     115 

American  citizen  and  a  support  to  his  confidence  in  the 
American  Republic.  The  true  patriot  must  necessarily 
feel  a  glow  of  sincere  pride  in  the  record  of  the  Repub 
lic's  great  and  heroic  sons  from  every  section.  There  is 
no  inconsistency,  however,  between  a  special  affection 
for  one's  birthplace  and  a  general  love  for  one's  entire 
country.  There  is  nothing  truer  than  that  the  love  of 
the  home  is  the  unit,  and  that  the  sum  of  these  units  is 
aggregated  patriotism.  What  would  be  thought  of  the 
patriotism  of  a  son  of  New  England  or  of  the  Old 
Dominion  whose  heart  did  not  warm  at  the  mention  of 
Plymouth  Rock  or  of  Jamestown  ? 

An  incident  in  the  war  experience  of  General  Newton 
M.  Curtis,  a  leading  and  influential  Republican  member 
of  Congress  from  New  York,  is  worthy  of  record.  A 
finer  specimen  of  physical  manhood  it  would  be  difficult 
to  find.  Six  feet  six  inches  in  height,  erect  as  the  typical 
Indian,  he  weighs  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  pounds ; 
but  if  he  were  six  feet  twelve  and  weighed  twice  as  much 
his  body  would  not  be  big  enough  to  contain  the  great 
soul  which  inhabits  it.  He  had  one  eye  shot  out  by  a 
Confederate  bullet,  but  if  he  had  lost  both  his  lofty  spirit 
would  have  seen  as  clearly  as  now  that  the  war  was 
fought  in  defence  of  inherited  belief,  and  that  when  it 
ended  the  Union  was  more  closely  cemented  than  ever. 

Near  Fairfax  Court-House,  during  the  war  in  that  por 
tion  of  Virginia  which  had  been  devastated  by  both 
armies,  biting  want  necessarily  came  to  many  families 
near  the  border,  particularly  to  those  whose  circum 
stances  made  it  impossible  for  them  to  remove  to  a  dis 
tant  part  of  the  State.  From  within  the  Union  lines 
there  came  into  the  Union  camps,  one  chilly  day,  a  Vir 
ginia  lady.  She  was  weak  and  pale  and  thinly  clad,  and 
rode  an  inferior  horse,  with  a  faithful  old  negro  as  her 
only  escort.  She  had  come  to  solicit  from  the  commis 
sary  department  of  the  Union  army  supplies  with  which 


116   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

to  feed  her  household.  The  orders  to  the  commissary 
department  in  the  field  were  necessarily  stringent.  The 
supplies  did  not  belong  to  the  officer  in  charge,  but  were 
the  property  of  the  government.  That  officer,  therefore, 
had  no  right  to  donate  anything  even  to  the  most  de 
serving  case  of  charity,  except  according  to  the  orders ; 
and  the  orders  required  all  applicants  for  supplies  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  before  such 
supplies  could  be  furnished.  This  hungry  and  wan 
woman  was  informed  that  she  could  have  the  necessaries 
for  which  she  asked  upon  subscribing  to  that  oath. 
What  was  she  to  do?  Her  kindred,  her  husband  and 
son,  were  soldiers  in  the  Confederate  army.  If  she  re 
fused  to  take  the  oath,  what  would  become  of  her  and 
those  dependent  upon  her  ?  If  she  took  the  oath,  what 
was  to  become  of  her  own  convictions  and  her  loyalty  to 
the  cause  of  those  she  loved  ?  It  is  not  necessary  to  say 
that  her  sense  of  duty  and  her  fidelity  to  the  Southern 
cause  triumphed.  Sad  and  hungry,  she  turned  away, 
resolved  to  suffer  on.  But  General  Curtis  was  in  that 
camp.  He  had  no  power  to  change  the  orders,  and  no 
disposition  to  change  them,  and  he  would  have  scorned 
to  violate  a  trust ;  for  there  was  no  braver  or  more  loyal 
officer  in  the  Union  army.  He  had,  however,  in  his  pri 
vate  purse  some  of  the  money  which  he  had  earned  as  a 
soldier,  and  he  illustrated  in  his  character  that  native 
knighthood  which  ennobles  its  possessor  while  protect 
ing,  befriending,  and  blessing  the  weak  or  unfortunate. 
It  is  enough  to  add  that  this  brave  and  suffering  Vir 
ginia  woman  did  not  leave  the  Union  camp  empty- 
handed.  I  venture  the  opinion  that  General  Curtis 
would  not  exchange  the  pleasure  which  that  act  gave 
him  at  the  time,  and  has  given  him  for  the  thirty  years 
since,  for  the  amount  of  money  expended  multiplied 
many  times  over. 

In  1863,  when  General  Longstreet's  forces  were  invest- 


WAR  BY  BRAVE   AGAINST  BRAVE     117 

ing  the  city  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  there  occurred  an 
incident  equally  honorable  to  the  sentiment  and  spirit  of 
Confederate  and  Federal.  During  a  recent  visit  to  that 
city,  a  party  representing  both  sides  in  that  engagement 
accompanied  me  to  the  great  fort  which  General  Long- 
street's  forces  assailed  but  were  unable  to  capture.  These 
representatives  of  both  armies  united  in  giving  me  the 
details  of  the  incident.  The  Southern  troops  had  made 
a  bold  assault  upon  the  fort.  They  succeeded  in  reach 
ing  it  through  a  galling  fire,  and  attempted  to  rush  up  its 
sides,  but  were  beaten  back  by  the  Union  men,  who  held 
it.  Then  in  the  deep  ditch  surrounding  the  fortress  and 
at  its  immediate  base,  the  Confederates  took  their  po 
sition.  They  were,  in  a  measure,  protected  from  the 
Union  fire ;  but  they  could  neither  climb  into  the  fort 
nor  retreat,  except  at  great  sacrifice  of  life.  The  sun 
poured  its  withering  rays  upon  them  and  they  were 
famishing  with  thirst.  A  bold  and  self-sacrificing  young 
soldier  offered  to  take  his  life  in  his  hands  and  canteens 
on  his  back  and  attempt  to  bring  water  to  his  fainting 
comrades.  He  made  the  dash  for  life  and  for  water,  and 
was  unhurt ;  but  the  return— how  was  that  to  be  accom 
plished  1  Laden  with  the  filled  and  heavy  canteens,  he 
approached  within  range  of  the  rifles  in  the  fort  and 
looked  anxiously  across  the  intervening  space.  He  was 
fully  alive  to  the  fact  that  the  chances  were  all  against 
him;  but,  determined  to  relieve  his  suffering  comrades 
or  die  in  the  effort,  he  started  on  his  perilous  run  for  the 
ditch  at  the  fort.  The  brave  LTnion  soldiers  stood  upon 
the  parapet  with  their  rifles  in  hand.  As  they  saw  this 
daring  American  youth  coming,  with  his  life  easily  at 
their  disposal,  they  stood  silently  contemplating  him  for 
a  moment.  Then,  realizing  the  situation,  they  fired  at 
him  a  tremendous  volley — not  of  deadly  bullets  from 
their  guns,  but  of  enthusiastic  shouts  from  their  throats. 
If  the  annals  of  war  record  any  incident  between  hos- 


118  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE    CIVIL  WAR 

tile  armies  which  embodies  a  more  beautiful  and  touch 
ing  tribute  by  the  brave  to  the  brave,  I  have  never  seen 
it. 

And  now  what  is  to  be  said  of  these  incidents  1  How 
much  are  the  few  recorded  in  this  chapter  worth !  To 
the  generations  that  are  to  follow,  what  is  their  value 
and  the  value  of  the  tens  of  thousands  which  ought  to  be 
chronicled?  Do  they  truly  indicate  that  the  war  did  lift 
the  spirit  of  the  people  to  better  things!  Was  it  really 
fought  in  defense  of  cherished  convictions,  and  did  it 
bury  in  its  progress  the  causes  of  sectional  dissensions! 
Did  it  develop  a  higher  manhood  in  the  men,  and  did 
it  reveal  in  glorious  light  the  latent  but  ever-living  hero 
ism  of  our  women?  The  heroines  of  Sparta  who  gave 
their  hair  for  bow-strings  have  been  immortalized  by 
the  muse  of  history ;  but  what  tongue  can  speak  or  pen 
indite  a  tribute  worthy  of  that  Mississippi  woman  who 
with  her  own  hands  applied  the  torch  to  more  than  half 
a  million  dollars'  worth  of  cotton,  reducing  herself  to 
poverty,  rather  than  have  that  cotton  utilized  against 
her  people  ?  The  day  will  come,  and  I  hope  and  believe 
it  is  rapidly  approaching,  when  in  all  the  sections  will 
be  seen  evidences  of  appreciation  of  these  inspiring  inci 
dents  ;  when  all  lips  will  unite  in  expressing  gratitude  to 
God  that  they  belong  to  such  a  race  of  men  and  women ; 
when  no  man  who  loves  his  country  will  be  found  grov 
elling  among  the  embers  and  ignoble  passions  of  the 
past,  but  will  aid  in  developing  a  still  nobler  national 
life,  by  inviting  the  youth  of  our  country  to  a  contem 
plation  of  the  true  glories  of  this  memorable  war. 

In  my  boyhood  I  witnessed  a  scene  in  nature  which 
it  now  seems  to  me  fitly  symbolizes  that  mighty  struggle 
and  the  view  of  it  which  I  seek  to  present.  Standing  on 
a  mountain-top,  I  saw  two  storm-clouds  lowering  in  the 
opposite  horizon.  They  were  heavily  charged  with  elec 
tric  fires.  As  they  rose  and  approached  each  other  they 


WAK  BY  BKAVE  AGAINST  BRAVE     119 

extended  their  length  and  gathered  additional  blackness 
and  fury.  Higher  and  higher  they  rose,  their  puffing 
wind-caps  rolling  like  hostile  banners  above  them ;  and 
when  nearing  each  other  the  flashing  lightning  blazed 
along  their  front  and  their  red  bolts  were  hurled  into 
each  other's  bosoms.  Finally  in  mid-heavens  they  met, 
and  the  blinding  flashes  and  fearful  shocks  filled  my  boy 
ish  spirit  with  awe  and  terror.  But  God's  hand  was  in 
that  storm,  and  from  the  furious  conflict  copious  show 
ers  were  poured  upon  the  parched  and  thirsty  earth, 
which  refreshed  and  enriched  it. 


CHAPTER  X 

RETKOSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  LEADERS  AND  EVENTS 

Confederate  victories  up  to  the  winter  of  1863— Southern  confidence  in 
ultimate  independence— Progress  of  Union  armies  in  the  West— Fight 
for  the  control  of  the  Mississippi  — General  Butler  in  possession  of 
New  Orleans— The  new  era  in  naval  construction— Significance  of  the 
battle  of  the  Monitor  and  Merrimac— Great  leaders  who  had  come  into 
prominence  in  both  armies— The  death  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston- 
General  Lee  the  most  unassuming  of  great  commanders. 

THE  next  promontories  on  the  war's  highway  which 
come  into  view  are  Gettysburg,  Vicksburg,  and 
Chickamauga;  and  these  suggest  a  retrospective  view 
of  the  entire  field  over  which  the  armies  had  been  march 
ing,  and  of  the  men  who  had  been  leading  them. 

The  battles  of  1861-62  and  of  the  winter  of  1863  had 
left  the  South  still  confident  of  success  in  securing  her 
independence  and  the  North  still  fully  resolved  on 
maintaining  the  integrity  of  the  Union.  In  Virginia  the 
Confederates  had  won  important  victories  at  Bull  Run, 
in  the  seven  days'  battles  around  Richmond,  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  with  the  surrender  of  the  Union  forces  to  Jackson, 
at  second  Manassas,  at  Fredericksburg,  in  the  Valley, 
and  at  Chancellorsville,  and  had  claimed  a  drawn  battle 
at  Sharpsburg— Antietam.  Kirby  Smith  had  marched 
nearly  across  Kentucky,  threatening  Cincinnati,  and  suc 
cess  of  more  or  less  importance  had  attended  Southern 
arms  in  other  localities. 

In  the  West  the  Union  arms  had  won  at  Fort  Donel- 
son,  Fort  Henry,  and  in  the  battle  for  the  possession  of 

120 


RETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  EVENTS    121 

eastern  Kentucky,  where  the  Confederate  commander 
Zollicoffer  was  killed,  and  the  Union  commander,  George 
H.  Thomas,  won  his  first  great  victory.  The  Confed 
erates  had  suffered  severely  at  Pea  Ridge  in  Arkansas, 
although  no  material  advantage  was  gained  on  either 
side.  McCulloch,  the  noted  Texas  ranger,  fell,  and  the 
picturesque  Albert  Pike,  with  his  two  thousand  Indians, 
lent  additional  interest  to  the  scene.  On  both  sides  of 
the  Mississippi  the  Union  forces  were  advancing.  Ken 
tucky  and  all  northern  Tennessee  and  Missouri  and 
northern  Arkansas  had  been  abandoned  to  Union  occu 
pation.  The  possession  of  the  Mississippi  River  from 
its  source  to  its  mouth,  and  the  cutting  in  twain  of  the 
Confederate  territory,  became  for  the  Southwest  the 
dominating  policy  of  the  Union  authorities— the  logical 
sequence  of  which  would  be  to  cut  off  Confederate  food- 
supplies  from  Texas  arid  the  trans-Mississippi.  The 
success  of  this  policy  was  becoming  assured  by  rapidly 
recurring  and  decisive  blows.  Island  Number  Ten,  above 
Memphis,  fell,  forcing  the  evacuation  of  Fort  Pillow  and 
of  Memphis,  thus  breaking  Confederate  control  of  this 
great  waterway  at  every  point  north  of  Vicksburg. 
Farragut,  the  brilliant  admiral,  had  battered  his  way 
through  Confederate  gunboats  and  forts  from  the  Mis 
sissippi's  mouth  to  New  Orleans.  This  foremost  genius 
of  the  Union  navy,  whose  father  was  a  friend  of  Andrew 
Jackson's,  and  whose  mother  was  a  North  Carolina  wo 
man,  had  learned  his  first  lesson  in  heroism  from  this 
Southern  mother  as  she  stood  with  uplifted  axe  in  the 
door  of  their  cabin  home,  defending  her  children  from 
the  red  savages  of  the  mountains. 

General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  who  had  advocated  the 
nomination  of  Jefferson  Davis  for  President  in  the 
Charleston  Convention  (1860),  had  marched  his  troops 
into  New  Orleans  and  taken  possession  of  the  city. 
Along  the  Atlantic  coast,  point  after  point  held  by  Con- 


122   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR 

federates  was  falling  before  the  mighty  naval  armament 
of  the  United  States.  No  Confederate  navy  existed  to 
dispute  its  progress.  General  Burnside,  in  his  expedition 
to  North  Carolina,  had  captured  Fort  Macon  and  New- 
hern.  -  The  cities  of  Fernandina  and  Jacksonville,  Florida, 
were  unable  to  stand  against  the  fire  from  the  fleet  of 
Commodore  Dupont.  In  Hampton  Koads,  Virginia,  had 
occurred  the  first  battle  of  perfected  ironclads  in  the 
world's  history,  and  one  of  the  most  furious  in  the  annals 
of  naval  engagements.  The  Confederate  Virginia  and 
the  United  States  Monitor  in  a  few  days  had  revolution 
ized  the  theories  of  scientific  seamen,  and  made  the  iron 
clad  the  future  monarch  of  the  water.  The  United  States 
frigate  Merrimac,  which  had  been  scuttled  and  sunk  by  its 
former  crew,  was  raised  from  its  deep  grave  by  the  Con 
federates  and  remodelled  under  the  direction  of  Captain 
J.  M.  Brooke,  of  Virginia.  It  was  covered  with  a  sloping 
roof  of  railroad  iron,  plastered  over  with  plumbago  and 
tallow,  and  rechristened  Virginia.  From  this  roof  of 
greased  iron  the  heaviest  solid  shot  of  the  most  power 
ful  guns  glanced  like  india-rubber  balls  from  a  mound  of 
granite  and  whizzed  harmlessly  into  the  air.  With  its 
steel-pointed  prow  the  Virginia  crashed  into  the  side  of 
the  United  States  war-ship  Cumberland,  tearing  a  huge 
hole  through  which  the  rushing  waters  poured  into  her 
hull,  carrying  her  to  the  bottom  with  the  gallant  Fed 
erals  who  had  manned  her.  Under  the  belching  fires  of 
this  floating  volcano,  with  its  crater  near  the  water's 
surface  and  its  base-line  three  feet  below  it,  the  United 
States  frigate  Congress  was  forced  to  surrender.  The 
most  thrilling  scene,  however,  in  this  great  struggle  of 
naval  monsters,  was  that  witnessed  when  the  Union 
ironclad  Monitor,  designed  by  Captain  John  Ericsson, 
engaged  the  ironclad  Virginia  at  close  quarters.  The 
pointed  beak  of  the  Virginia  could  make  no  impression 
upon  the  armor  of  the  Monitor.  The  heaviest  shots 


RETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF   EVENTS    123 

of  each  bounded  off  from  the  sides  of  the  other,  doing 
no  practical  damage  even  when  at  closest  range.  These 
two  heralds  of  the  new  era  in  naval  construction  and 
naval  battles  were  buried  at  last  in  that  element  the 
warfare  upon  which  they  had  completely  revolutionized 
—the  Virginia  in  the  James  River,  the  Monitor  in  the 
Atlantic  off  Hatteras. 

The  great  military  leaders  on  the  two  sides  were  just 
beginning  to  attract  the  attention  of  their  countrymen 
and  to  fix  the  gaze  of  Christendom.  G-eorge  H.  Thomas, 
who  was  regarded  by  Confederate  officers  as  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  Union  commanders,  was  steadily  building 
that  solid  reputation  the  general  recognition  of  which 
found  at  last  popular  expression  in  the  sobriquet,  "  Rock 
of  Chickamauga "— a  title  resembling  that  conferred 
upon  Jackson  at  Bull  Run,  and  for  a  similar  service. 
Sheridan,  who  afterward  became  the  most  famous  cav 
alryman  of  the  North,  was  beginning  to  win  the  confi 
dence  of  his  commanders  and  of  his  Northern  countrymen. 
McDowell,  who  was  the  classmate  and  friend  at  West 
Point  of  his  opponent  Beauregard,  and  whose  ability  as 
a  soldier  was  recognized  by  Confederate  leaders,  had 
been  defeated  at  Bull  Run,  the  first  great  battle  of  the 
war,  and  had  been  supplanted  by  McClellan.  It  was  my 
privilege  to  confer  with  General  McClellan  during  the  ex 
citing  and  momentous  period  preceding  the  inauguration 
of  President  Hayes,  and  he  impressed  me  then,  as  he  had 
impressed  his  people  in  1862,  as  a  man  of  great  personal 
magnetism  and  vivacious  intellect.  After  the  seven 
days'  battles  around  Richmond,  McClellan  was  replaced 
by  General  John  Pope.  That  officer,  who  had  inglori- 
ously  failed  to  make  good  his  prophecy  that  his  army 
would  henceforth  look  only  upon  the  backs  of  the  enemy, 
and  who,  contrary  to  his  prediction,  found  that  even  he 
must  consider  "lines  of  retreat"  at  second  Manassas, 
had  been  sent  to  another  field  of  service  when  General 


124  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

McClellan  was  reinstated  in  command.  President  Lin 
coln,  however,  is  said  to  have  soon  desired  greater 
activity,  and  to  have  wittily  suggested  that  if  General 
McClellan  had  no  special  use  for  the  army  he  would  like 
to  borrow  it.  Whether  this  characteristic  suggestion 
was  ever  made  by  the  President  or  not,  it  is  certain  that 
the  army  was  later  intrusted  to  General  Burnside,  with 
whom  I  served  afterward  in  the  Senate,  and  who  was 
respected  by  all  in  that  chamber  for  his  stainless  record 
as  legislator  and  exalted  character  as  man  and  patriot. 
General  Burnside,  after  his  defeat  by  Lee  at  Fredericks- 
burg,  had  at  his  own  request  been  relieved  of  the  com 
mand  of  the  army.  General  Hooker,  his  successor,  who 
as  long  as  the  war  lasted  fought  with  heroism  and  de 
votion,  and  after  it  ended  entertained  his  Southern 
friends  with  the  lavish  hand  of  a  prince,  had  lost  the 
great  battle  of  Chancellorsville.  Although  this  admira 
ble  officer,  by  his  devotion  to  his  duties  as  commander, 
had  so  enhanced  the  efficiency  of  his  army  in  numbers 
and  discipline  that  he  felt  justified  in  pronouncing  it 
"  the  finest  army  on  the  planet,"  he  also  had  asked  to  be 
relieved  of  chief  command  because  of  some  conflict  of 
authority.  His  successor  was  General  George  Gordon 
Meade,  of  whom  I  shall  have  more  to  say  in  another 
connection. 

The  reputations  of  Sherman  and  of  Grant  were  now 
eclipsing  those  of  other  commanders.  General  Sherman, 
with  Memphis  as  his  base,  was  threatening  to  overrun 
the  Confederate  States  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  while  Stephen  D.  Lee,  a  brilliant  campaigner,  pro 
nounced  by  competent  authority  one  of  the  most  effective 
commanders  on  the  Confederate  side,  was  throwing  his 
little  army  across  General  Sherman's  lines  of  advance 
and  retarding  his  progress.  Sherman,  however,  was 
advancing  and  laying  the  foundations  upon  which  he 
was  to  build  the  imposing  structure  of  his  future  fame, 


RETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  EVENTS    125 

Grant  was  piling  victory  upon  victory  and  steadily 
mounting  to  the  heights  to  which  destiny  and  his  coun 
try  were  calling  him. 

On  the  Confederate  side,  a  great  light  had  gone  out 
when  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  fell.  In  comparative 
youth  he  had  rendered  signal  service  to  Texas  in  her 
struggle  for  independence.  In  the  war  with  Mexico  he 
had  evoked  from  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready "— Zachary 
Taylor— the  commanding  general,  praises  that  were 
neither  few  nor  meagre.  In  Utah  he  had  been  the 
government's  faithful  friend  and  strong  right  arm.  A 
Kentuckian  by  birth,  he  had  in  his  veins  some  of  the 
best  of  American  blood.  Like  Washington  and  Lee,  he 
combined  those  singularly  attractive  qualities  which 
inspired  and  held  the  love  and  confidence  of  his  soldiers, 
while  commanding  the  respect  and  admiration  of  the 
sages  of  West  Point.  In  him  more  than  in  any  other 
man  at  that  period  were  centred  the  hopes  of  the 
Southern  people.  He  fell  in  the  morning  of  his  career, 
leading  his  steady  lines  through  the  woods  at  Shiloh, 
and  in  the  very  hour  of  apparently  assured  victory.  As 
the  rich  life-current  ebbed  through  the  severed  artery, 
he  closed  his  eyes  on  this  scene  of  his  last  conflict,  con 
fident  of  his  army's  triumph  and  with  the  exultant  shouts 
of  his  advancing  legions  sounding  a  requiem  in  his  ears. 

The  immediate  successor  of  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  was 
Pierre  Gustave  Toutant  Beauregard,  who  was  an  officer 
of  ability  and  sincerely  patriotic.  Had  circumstances 
favored  it,  he  would  have  found  the  broadest  field  for 
usefulness  at  some  point  where  his  great  skill  as  an  en 
gineer  could  have  been  utilized.  During  the  initiative 
period  of  the  war,  prior  to  the  first  great  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  it  was  my  privilege  to  serve  under  General  Beau- 
regard  and  to  learn  something  of  those  cheery,  debonair 
characteristics  which  helped  to  make  him  the  idol  of  the 
vivacious  Creoles  of  Louisiana.  After  the  war  a  Virgin- 


126    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

ian,  an  ardent  admirer  of  General  Lee,  was  extolling  the 
great  commander-in-chief  in  a  conversation  with  one  of 
Beauregard's  devoted  creole  adherents.  The  Louisian- 
ian  listened  for  a  moment  to  the  Virginian's  praise  of 
Lee,  and  then  replied : 

"  Lee— Lee !  Yes,  seems  to  me  I  did  hear  Beauregard 
speak  very  well  of  Lee." 

Louisiana  furnished  another  successor  to  the  lamented 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston  in  the  person  of  General  Brax- 
ton  Bragg.  This  officer,  who  was  one  of  President 
Davis's  special  favorites,  becoming  late  in  the  war  a 
military  adviser  of  the  Confederate  President,  was  a 
noted  artillerist,  and  would  possibly  have  done  greater 
execution  in  directing  the  movements  of  field  batteries, 
which  was  a  specialty,  than  in  directing  the  movements 
of  an  army  or  handling  it  in  battle.  General  Bragg  was 
undoubtedly  a  man  of  ability,  but  his  health  was  bad, 
and  unfortunately  his  temper  was  no  better.  His  refer 
ence,  though  in  semi-private  conversation,  to  one  of  his 
most  prominent  officers  as  "an  old  woman,"  and  his 
declaration  that  he  had  few  men  under  him  capable  of 
command,  were  in  strange  contrast  to  the  confidence 
felt  by  the  country  in  those  officers,  and  were  especially 
in  contrast  with  the  spirit  of  Lee  in  assuming  for  himself 
the  responsibility  for  defeat,  while  giving  the  honors  of 
success  to  his  juniors.  When  General  Bragg  was  indulg 
ing  in  these  criticisms  of  his  officers  he  had  under  him 
those  brilliant  soldiers,  the  accomplished,  alert,  and  dash 
ing  E.  C.  Walthall,  late  United  States  senator  from 
Mississippi;  Patrick  Cleburne,  whose  warm  Irish  blood 
and  quick  Irish  intellect  made  him  conspicuous  in  every 
fight,  and  who  in  the  desperate  charge  at  Franklin, 
Tennessee,  was  killed  on  the  defences  behind  which  the 
Union  army  had  been  posted;  and  W.  H.  T.  Walker, 
who  as  a  boy  had  won  his  spurs  fighting  Indians  at  Okee- 
chobee,  and  who  was  afterward  desperately  wounded  in 


RETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  EVENTS    127 

Mexico,  recovering,  as  he  said,  "  to  spite  the  doctors." 
He  lost  his  life  at  last  in  battle  at  Atlanta,  and  left  a 
reputation  for  courage  equal  to  that  of  Ney.  There 
was  also  in  Bragg's  army  at  that  time  the  accomplished 
and  brave  Bate,  of  Tennessee,  who  was  repeatedly 
wounded,  and  finally  maimed  for  life,  and  whose  old 
war-horse,  shot  at  the  same  time,  followed  his  wounded 
owner  to  the  hospital  tent  and  died  at  its  door,  moaning 
his  farewell  to  that  gallant  master.  There  were  also 
Cheatham  and  Polk  (of  whom  I  have  spoken  in  a  former 
chapter),  and  a  galaxy  of  able  men  of  whom  I  would 
gladly  write.  There  were  also  with  Bragg  the  knightly 
cavalryman  Joseph  Wheeler,  and  N.  B.  Forrest,  the 
"  wizard  of  the  saddle,"  who  was  one  of  the  unique 
figures  of  the  war,  and  who,  in  my  estimation,  exhibited 
more  native  untutored  genius  as  a  cavalry  leader  than 
any  man  of  modern  times.  Like  the  great  German 
emperor  who  thought  the  rules  of  grammar  were  not 
made  for  his  Majesty,  Forrest  did  not  care  whether  his 
orders  were  written  according  to  Murray  or  any  other 
grammarian,  so  they  meant  to  his  troops  "  fight  on,  men, 
and  keep  fighting  till  I  come." 

Lieutenant-General  Hardee  was  also  one  of  Bragg's 
corps  commanders.  This  officer,  who  was  an  accom 
plished  tactician,  had  made  a  record  which  many  thought 
indicated  abilities  of  a  high  order,  fitting  him  for  chief 
command  of  the  Western  Army.  Another  of  his  corps 
commanders  was  the  chivalrous  John  B.  Hood,  who,  at 
Atlanta,  in  1864,  was  named  by  President  Davis  to  suc 
ceed  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  was  removed 
from  chief  command.  In  commenting  on  the  picturesque 
and  high-spirited  Hood  a  whole  chapter  might  be  con 
sumed  ;  but  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  few  observations 
in  regard  to  him.  As  division  or  corps  commander, 
there  were  very  few  men  in  either  army  who  were  su 
perior  to  Hood;  but  his  most  intimate  associates  and 


128    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

ardent  admirers  in  the  army  never  regarded  him  as  en 
dowed  with  those  rare  mental  gifts  essential  in  the  man 
who  was  to  displace  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  To 
say  that  he  was  as  brave  and  dashing  as  any  officer  of 
any  age  would  be  the  merest  commonplace  tribute  to 
such  a  man ;  but  courage  and  dash  are  not  the  sole  or 
even  the  prime  requisites  of  the  commander  of  a  great 
army.  There  are  crises,  it  is  true,  in  battle,  like  that 
which  called  Napoleon  to  the  front  at  Lodi,  and  caused 
Lee  to  attempt  to  lead  his  men  on  May  6  in  the  Wil 
derness,  and  again  at  Spottsylvania  (May  12,  1864),  when 
the  fate  of  the  army  may  demand  the  most  daring  ex 
posure  of  the  commander-in-chief  himself.  It  is  never 
theless  true  that  care  and  caution  in  handling  an  army, 
the  forethought  which  thoroughly  weighs  the  advan 
tages  and  disadvantages  of  instant  and  aggressive  action, 
are  as  essential  in  a  commander  as  courage  in  his  men. 
In  these  high  qualities  his  battles  at  Atlanta  and  later  at 
Franklin  would  indicate  that  Hood  was  lacking.  I  am 
persuaded  and  have  reason  to  believe  that  General  Lee 
thought  Joseph  E.  Johnston's  tactics  wiser,  although 
they  involved  repeated  retreats  in  husbanding  the 
strength  and  morale  of  his  army.  Bosquet  said  of  some 
brilliant  episode  in  battle :  "  It  is  magnificent,  but  it  is  not 
war."  Hood,  like  Jackson,  thought  battle  a  delightful  ex 
citement  ;  but  Jackson,  with  all  his  daring  and  apparent 
relish  for  the  fray,  was  one  of  the  most  cautious  of  men. 
His  terrible  marches  were  inspired  largely  by  his  caution. 
Instead  of  hurling  his  troops  on  breastworks  in  front, 
which  might  have  been  "magnificent,"  he  preferred  to 
wage  war  by  heavy  marching  in  order  to  deliver  his  blow 
upon  the  flank.  His  declaration  that  it  is  better  to  lose 
one  hundred  men  in  marching  than  a  thousand  in  fight 
ing  is  proof  positive  of  the  correctness  of  the  estimate  I 
place  on  his  caution.  Ewell  once  said  that  he  never  saw 
one  of  Jackson's  staff  approaching  without  "expecting  an 


RETROSPECTIVE   VIEW   OF  EVENTS    129 

order  to  storm  the  north  pole  " ;  but  if  Jackson  had  de 
termined  to  take  the  north  pole  he  would  have  first 
considered  whether  it  could  be  more  easily  carried  by 
assaulting  in  front  or  by  turning  its  flank. 

Hood  had  lost  a  leg  in  battle,  and  when  the  amputa 
tion  was  completed  an  attempt  was  made  to  console  him 
by  the  announcement  that  a  civil  appointment  was  ready 
for  him.  With  characteristic  impetuosity,  he  replied: 
"  No,  sir ;  no  bomb-proof  place  for  me.  I  propose  to  see 
this  fight  out  in  the  field."  This  undiminished  ardor  for 
military  service  calls  to  mind  the  many  other  soldiers 
of  the  Civil  War,  and  of  all  history,  whose  loss  of  bodily 
activity  in  no  way  impaired  their  mental  capacity. 
Ewell,  with  his  one  leg,  not  only  rode  in  battle  like  a 
cow-boy  on  the  plains,  but  in  the  whirlwind  of  the  strife 
his  brain  acted  with  the  precision  and  rapidity  of  a 
Gatling  gun. 

General  Daniel  E.  Sickles,  of  New  York,  who  was 
an  able  representative  in  Congress,  continued  his  ac 
tive  and  conspicuous  service  in  the  field  long  after 
he  lost  the  leg  which  was  shivered  by  a  Confederate 
ball  as  the  brave  men  in  gray  rushed  up  the  steep 
of  Little  Round  Top  at  Gettysburg.  The  United  States 
Senate,  since  the  war,  has  been  a  conspicuous  arena 
for  one-legged  Confederates.  The  former  illustrious 
senators  of  South  Carolina,  Hampton  and  Butler, 
and  the  combative  and  forceful  Berry  of  Arkansas, 
each  stood  upon  his  single  leg,  an  able  and  aggressive 
champion  of  Democratic  faith ;  and  it  is  certain  that  the 
brilliant  oratory  of  Daniel,  of  Virginia,  is  none  the  less 
Websterian  because  the  missile  in  the  Wilderness 
mangled  his  leg  and  maimed  him  for  life.  Marshal 
Saxe,  who  ran  away  from  home  and  joined  the  army 
at  the  age  of  twelve,  and  who  became  one  of  the  most 
famous  soldiers  of  his  day,  gathered  for  France  and 
his  own  brow  the  glories  of  Fontenoy  while  he  was 


130  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

carried  amidst  his  troops  on  a  litter.  The  most  illus 
trious  patrician  in  the  Republic  of  Venice,  the  sight 
less  hero  whom  Lord  Byron  called  "the  blind  old  Dan- 
dolo,"  achieved  for  his  country  its  most  brilliant  naval 
victories.  No  account,  however,  of  the  mental  vigor 
which  has  distinguished  many  maimed  soldiers  would 
be  complete  without  reference  to  a  Union  soldier  who 
lost  both  legs.  My  first  meeting  with  " Corporal"  Tanner, 
to  whom  I  allude,  was  many  years  ago,  on  the  cars  be 
tween  Washington  and  Richmond.  He  was  on  his  way 
to  the  former  capital  of  the  fallen  Confederacy.  The  ex 
uberance  of  his  spirits,  the  cordiality  of  his  greeting, 
and  the  catholicity  of  his  sentiments  arrested  my  atten 
tion  and  won  my  friendship  at  this  first  meeting.  In 
the  course  of  the  conversation  I  jocularly  asked  him  if 
he  were  not  afraid  to  go  to  Richmond  without  a  body 
guard?  "  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  left  both  my  legs  buried  in 
Virginia  soil,  and  I  think  a  man  ought  to  be  allowed 
peaceably  to  visit  his  own  graveyard."  A  few  years 
later  I  sat  on  a  platform  with  Tanner  before  a  great 
audience  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York.  This  audience 
had  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  considering  ways  and 
means  to  aid  in  the  erection  of  a  Confederate  Soldiers* 
Home  in  Richmond.  I  had  in  my  pocket  a  liberal  con 
tribution  from  General  Grant,  and  after  announcing  this 
fact,  with  a  few  additional  words,  I  called  for  Tanner  as 
the  speaker  of  the  evening.  He  stood  tremblingly  on 
the  two  wooden  pins  that  served  him  as  legs,  and  began 
by  saying:  "My  whole  being  is  enlisted  in  this  cause, 
from  the  crown  of  my  head  down  to  the— as  far  as  I  go." 
Those  who  were  present  at  the  great  gathering  of  Con 
federates  in  the  vast  assembly-hall  at  Richmond  during 
the  last  days  of  June,  1895,  will  not  soon  forget  his 
speech  on  that  occasion.  This  maimed  Union  veteran, 
surrounded  by  Confederates,  was  pressed  to  the  front  of 
the  platform  amidst  the  wildest  acclamations  of  his 


BETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF   EVENTS    131 

former  foes.  Every  fibre  of  his  body  quivering  with 
emotion,  Tanner  poured  into  the  ears  and  hearts  of  his 
auditors  a  torrent  of  patriotic  eloquence  that  evoked  a 
demonstration  such  as  rarely  greets  any  man.  In  his 
ease  the  loss  of  his  legs  seems  to  have  added  vigor  to 
his  brain  and  breadth  to  his  heart. 

The  brief  comments  I  have  made  upon  General  Hood's 
career  as  commander  of  an  army  are  in  no  degree  dis 
paraging  to  his  clear  title  to  the  gratitude  of  the  South 
ern  people.  They  are  penned  by  as  loyal  a  friend  as  he 
had  in  the  Confederate  army.  No  devoted  Theban  ever 
stood  at  the  tomb  of  Epaminondas  with  keener  appreci 
ation  of  his  great  virtues  than  is  mine  of  the  high  qual 
ities  of  the  great-hearted  and  heroic  Hood.  These  views 
were  not  withheld  from  General  Lee  when  the  selection 
of  a  new  commander  for  the  Confederate  army  at 
Atlanta  was  in  contemplation.  When  President  Davis 
asked  General  Lee  for  an  opinion  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
removing  General  Johnston  from  the  command  of  that 
army,  General  Lee  did  me  the  honor,  as  I  presume  he 
honored  other  corps  commanders,  to  counsel  with  me  as 
to  the  policy  of  such  an  act.  I  had  served  under  Gen 
eral  Johnston  while  he  commanded  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  I  had  learned  by  experience  and  observation 
how  he  could  retreat  day  after  day  and  yet  retain  the 
absolute  confidence  of  his  officers  and  men,  who  were 
ready  at  any  moment  to  about  face,  and,  with  an  enthu 
siasm  born  of  that  confidence,  assume  the  offensive  at 
his  command.  I  therefore  expressed  the  opinion  that 
there  was  no  one  except  General  Lee  himself  who  could 
take  General  Johnston's  place  without  a  shock  to  the 
morale  of  his  troops  that  would  greatly  decrease  the 
chances  of  checking  General  Sherman.  Hood  and  others 
were  discussed,  and  I  ventured  the  suggestion  that  if  the 
time  should  ever  come  for  the  removal  of  General  John 
ston,  it  would  be  after  he  had  lost  and  not  while  he  still 


132  REMINISCENCES  OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

retained,  as  he  clearly  did,  the  enthusiastic  confidence  of 
his  army,  from  the  commanders  of  corps  to  the  privates 
in  the  ranks.  I  may  here  remark  that  General  Lee  was 
perhaps  the  most  unassuming  of  great  commanders. 
Responsibilities  that  clearly  belonged  to  him  as  a  soldier 
he  met  promptly  and  to  the  fullest  extent;  but  he  was 
the  last  man  holding  a  commission  in  the  Confederate 
army  to  assume  authority  about  which  there  could  be 
any  question.  Especially  was  this  true  when  such  au 
thority  was  placed  by  the  Constitution  or  laws  in  the 
hands  of  the  President.  Nothing  could  tempt  him  to 
cross  the  line  separating  his  powers  from  those  of  the 
civil  authorities.  That  line  might  be  dim  to  others,  but 
it  was  clear  to  him.  This  delicacy  was  exhibited  again 
and  again  even  during  the  desperate  throes  in  the  last 
death-struggle  of  his  army.  I  cannot  be  mistaken,  how 
ever,  as  to  his  opinion  of  the  suggested  removal  of  Gen 
eral  Johnston  and  the  promotion  of  General  Hood  or 
any  one  else  to  the  chief  command.  While  he  avoided 
any  direct  reply  to  my  suggestions,  he  said  enough  to 
indicate  his  opinions.  I  could  not  forget  his  expressions, 
and  I  give,  I  believe,  the  exact  words  he  used.  He  said : 
"  General  Johnston  is  a  patriot  and  an  able  soldier.  He 
is  upon  the  ground,  and  knows  his  army  and  its  sur 
roundings  and  how  to  use  it  better  than  any  of  us." 
This  was  the  extent  of  his  comment  and  ended  the  inter 
view.  He  never  again  alluded  to  the  subject.  General 
Lee  was  influenced  in  this  case,  as  always,  by  a  possibly 
too  extreme  reluctance  to  assume  powers  vested  in  the 
head  of  the  government.  While  there  was  more  or  less 
complaint  and  criticism  of  Mr.  Davis's  management  (it 
could  not  be  otherwise  during  the  progress  of  so  stu 
pendous  an  enterprise),  the  confidence  reposed  in  his 
ability  and  consecration  was  unshaken ;  and  General 
Lee  heartily  shared  in  this  confidence.  The  threadbare 
adage,  "  Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown,"  found 


KETROSPECTIVE  VIEW  OF  EVENTS     133 

a  fit  illustration  of  its  truth  in  the  experience  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  as  it  did  in  that  of  George  Washington  and 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  the  case  of  Washington  criti 
cism  ceased  when  he  retired  to  Mount  Vernon.  In  the 
case  of  Abraham  Lincoln  all  carpings  and  all  divisions 
were  lost  in  the  universal  sorrow  of  the  whole  American 
people  when  he  became  the  victim  of  the  murderous 
bullet  of  an  insane  assassin.  So  Jefferson  Davis  when 
imprisoned  became  the  representative  martyr  of  his 
whole  people.  Every  one  of  them  was  ready  to  share 
with  him  all  responsibility  for  the  struggle,  to  the  chief 
conduct  of  which  they  had  called  him  by  their  votes.  I 
feel  sure  that  so  long  as  this  vicarious  suffering  of  Mr. 
Davis  lasted,  General  Johnston  himself  would  have  been 
unwilling  to  publish  any  statements  as  to  the  controversy 
between  them,  though  he  might  have  deemed  such  state 
ments  necessary  for  his  own  vindication. 

The  strained  relations  between  them  originated  in  an 
honest  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  relative  rank  to 
which  General  Johnston  was  entitled  among  the  five  full 
generals.  It  is  wholly  immaterial  to  my  present  purpose 
to  inquire  which  was  right.  The  position  of  either  could 
be  sustained  by  forceful  arguments.  From  my  knowl 
edge  of  both  President  Davis  and  General  Johnston,  I 
feel  justified  in  saying  that  the  spirit  which  prompted 
them  differed  essentially  from  that  which  impelled  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  and  Talleyrand  each  to  desire  the 
first  place  in  the  picture  in  which  the  allied  sovereigns 
were  to  appear.  Personal  ambition  played  a  very  small 
part  in  the  conduct  of  the  serious  enterprise  in  which 
the  South  was  embarked.  I  could  not  fail  to  be  deeply 
concerned,  as  all  Southerners  were,  as  to  the  effect  of 
this  alienation  between  the  President  and  one  of  the 
South' s  ablest  commanders.  Honored  with  the  close 
personal  friendship  of  both  after  the  war,  I  had  abundant 
opportunity  for  learning  the  peculiarities  of  each.  That 


134   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

trenchant  truism  of  Plato :  "  No  man  governs  well  who 
wants  to  govern,"  finds  no  illustration  in  the  lives  of 
these  patriotic  men.  The  high  positions  and  responsi 
bilities  of  both  came  to  them  unsought.  Their  charac 
teristics  were  cast  in  similar  moulds  and  were  of  the  most 
inflexible  metal.  While  courteous  in  intercourse,  each 
was  tenacious  in  holding  and  emphatic  in  expressing 
convictions.  The  breach,  therefore,  once  made  was  never 
healed.  President  Davis  wished  General  Johnston  to 
assume  the  offensive,  with  Dalton  as  a  base  of  operations. 
General  Johnston  felt  that  his  army,  which  had  been 
beaten  back  from  Missionary  Ridge  in  great  confusion, 
could  not  safely  inaugurate  the  movement.  The  Presi 
dent  felt  that  it  was  his  right  as  constitutional  head  of 
the  Confederate  Government  to  know  when  and  where 
his  general  intended  to  make  a  stand.  That  general,  who 
had  made  a  retreat  from  Dalton  to  Atlanta  in  which  he 
had  lost  no  wagons,  no  material  of  any  description  ex 
cept  four  pieces  of  artillery,  and  none  of  the  enthusiastic 
confidence  of  his  officers  or  men,  with  but  few  killed  or 
wounded  in  the  almost  daily  skirmishes  and  combats, 
failed  to  give  to  the  government  at  Richmond  such  in 
formation  of  his  plans  and  such  assurances  of  his  hopes 
of  success  as  were  expected.  A  man  of  great  caution, 
but  of  towering  capabilities,  General  Johnston  had  hus 
banded  his  army's  strength  and  resources  in  this  long 
retrograde  movement  so  as  to  make  it  one  of  the  most 
memorable  in  military  annals;  but  I  think  he  should 
have  frankly  and  confidently  stated  where  he  intended 
to  make  a  final  stand,  from  which  he  expected  most  sat 
isfactory  results.  Failing  to  do  this,  he  will  probably 
be  iudged  by  history  as  failing  to  meet  in  the  fullest 
measure  his  duty  to  the  President.  On  the  other  hand, 
President  Davis,  having  placed  in  command  this  officer, 
who  had  few  if  any  superiors  in  any  age  or  in  any  army, 
should  probably  have  imitated  the  example  of  Louis 


RETROSPECTIVE  VIEW   OF  EVENTS    135 

XV,  who  said  to  the  great  marshal  in  command  of  his 
forces  that  he  expected  all  to  obey,  "  and  I  will  be  the 
first  to  set  the  example." 

In  the  meantime,  while  these  repeated  changes  in  com 
manders  were  occurring  in  the  Confederate  Army  of  the 
West  and  in  the  Union  Army  of  the  East,  Robert  E.  Lee 
was  intrusted  with  supreme  military  control  in  Virginia. 
Once  in  command,  he  was  destined  to  remain  to  the  end. 
Supported  by  Jackson,  by  the  two  Hills  and  Hampton,  by 
Longstreet  and  Stuart  and  the  junior  Lees,  by  Ewell  and 
Early,  by  Breckinridge,  Heth,  Mahone,  Hoke,  Rodes, 
and  Pickett;  by  Field  and  Wilcox,  by  Johnson,  Cobb, 
Evans,  Kershaw,  and  Ramseur;  by  Pendleton,  Alex 
ander,  Jones,  Long  and  Carter  of  the  artillery,  and  by 
a  long  line  of  officers  who  have  left  their  impress  upon 
history,  this  great  chieftain  was  concentrating  largely 
in  himself  the  hopes  of  the  Southern  people. 

This  cursory  and  necessarily  imperfect  review  of  some 
of  the  noted  leaders  on  both  sides  would  be  still  less 
satisfactory  without  some  reference  to  the  men  of  the 
ranks  who  stood  behind  them— or,  rather,  in  front  of 
them. 

During  the  fall  of  1896,  on  my  tour  in  Ohio,  a  gallant 
officer  of  the  Union  army,  after  hearing  some  reference 
by  me  to  the  great  debt  of  gratitude  due  the  private  sol 
diers,  gave  me  an  amusing  account  of  a  meeting  held  by 
privates  and  junior  officers  of  the  line  in  the  Union 
camps.  Brevet  titles  were  being  conferred  upon  many 
officers  for  meritorious  conduct.  A  series  of  resolutions 
were  passed  at  this  meeting,  with  the  usual  ivhereases,  by 
which  it  was  declared,  as  the  sense  of  the  meeting,  that 
every  private  who  had  bravely  fought  and  uncomplain 
ingly  suffered  was  entitled  to  be  bre vetted  as  corporal, 
every  corporal  as  sergeant,  and  every  sergeant  as  cap 
tain.  In  that  droll  gathering  some  wag  proposed  an 
additional  resolution,  which,  with  solemn  dignity,  was 


136   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

unanimously  adopted :  "  Whereas,  the  faithful  mules  of 
the  army  have  worked  hard  without  any  complaint,  each 
one  of  said  mules  should  be  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
horse." 

G-eneral  Lee  evidenced  his  appreciation  of  the  privates 
when  he  said  to  one  of  them  who  was  standing  near  his 
tent,  "  Come  in,  captain,  and  take  a  seat." 

"  I  'm  110  captain,  general ;  I  >m  nothing  but  a  pri 
vate,"  said  this  modest  soldier. 

"  Come  in,  sir,"  said  Lee ;  "  come  in  and  take  a  seat. 
You  ought  to  be  a  captain." 

Although  playfully  uttered,  these  simple  words  re 
flected  the  real  sentiment  of  the  great  chieftain.  It  is 
almost  literally  true  that  the  intelligent  privates  in  both 
the  Confederate  and  Union  armies  were  all  competent 
to  hold  minor  commissions  after  one  year's  service. 
They  acquired  well-defined  opinions  as  to  the  wisdom 
and  object  of  great  movements. 

No  language  would  be  too  strong  or  eulogy  too  high 
to  pronounce  upon  the  privates  who  did  their  duty  dur 
ing  that  long  and  dreadful  war,  who  manfully  braved 
its  dangers,  patiently  endured  its  trials,  cheerfully 
obeyed  the  orders;  who  were  ready  to  march  and  to 
suffer,  to  fight  and  to  die,  without  once  calling  in  ques 
tion  the  wisdom  of  the  orders  or  the  necessity  for  the 
sacrifice. 


CHAPTER  XI 

GETTYSBUKG 

Why  General  Lee  crossed  the  Potomac— The  movement  into  Penn 
sylvania—Incidents  of  the  march  to  the  Susquehanua— The  first 
day  at  Gettysburg— Union  forces  driven  back— The  key  of  the  posi 
tion—Why  the  Confederates  did  not  seize  Cemetery  Ridge— A  defence 
of  General  Lee's  strategy— The  fight  at  Little  Round  Top— The  im 
mortal  charge  of  Pickett's  men  — General  Meade's  deliberate  pursuit- 
Lee's  request  to  be  relieved. 

FROM  Gettysburg  to  Appomattox;  from  the  zenith 
of  assurance  to  the  nadir  of  despair ;  from  the  com 
pact  ranks,  boundless  confidence,  and  exultant  hopes  of 
as  proud  and  puissant  an  army  as  was  ever  marshalled — 
to  the  shattered  remnants,  withered  hopes,  and  final  sur 
render  of  that  army— such  is  the  track  to  be  followed 
describing  the  Confederacy's  declining  fortunes  and  ul 
timate  death.  No  picture  can  be  drawn  by  human  hand 
vivid  enough  to  portray  the  varying  hues,  the  spasmodic 
changes,  the  rapidly  gathering  shadows  of  the  scenes 
embraced  in  the  culminating  period  of  the  great  struggle. 

A  brief  analysis  of  the  reasons  for  General  Lee's  cross 
ing  of  the  Potomac  is  now  in  order.  In  the  logistics  of 
defensive  war,  offensive  movements  are  often  the  wisest 
strategy.  Voltaire  has  somewhere  remarked  that  "to 
subsist  one's  army  at  the  expense  of  the  enemy,  to  ad 
vance  on  their  own  ground  and  force  them  to  retrace 
their  steps— thus  rendering  strength  useless  by  skill— is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  military  art." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  group  together  words  more 

137 


138   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR 

concisely  and  clearly  descriptive  of  General  Lee's  pur 
poses  in  crossing  the  Potomac,  both  in  '62  and  '63.  It 
must  be  added,  however,  that  while  the  movement  into 
Maryland  in  1862,  and  into  Pennsylvania  in  1863,  were 
each  defensive  in  design,  they  differed  in  some  particu 
lars  as  to  the  immediate  object  which  General  Lee  hoped 
to  accomplish.  Each  sought  to  force  the  Union  army  to 
retrace  its  steps ;  "  each  sought  to  render  strength  useless 
by  skill " ;  but  in  1862  there  was  not  so  grave  a  necessity 
for  subsisting  his  army  on  Union  soil  as  in  1863.  The 
movement  into  Maryland  was  of  course  a  more  direct 
threat  upon  Washington.  Besides,  at  that  period  there 
was  still  a  prevalent  belief  among  Southern  leaders  that 
Southern  sentiment  was  strong  in  Maryland,  and  that  an 
important  victory  within  her  borders  might  convert  the 
Confederate  camps  into  recruiting-stations,  and  add 
materially  to  the  strength  of  Lee's  army.  But  the  Con 
federate  graves  which  were  dug  in  Maryland's  soil  vastly 
outnumbered  the  Confederate  soldiers  recruited  from  her 
citizens.  It  would  be  idle  to  speculate  as  to  what  might 
have  been  the  effect  of  a  decisive  victory  by  Lee's  forces 
at  South  Mountain,  or  Boonsboro,  or  Antietam  (Sharps- 
burg).  The  poignancy  of  disappointment  at  the  small 
number  recruited  for  our  army  was  intensified  by  the 
recognition  of  the  splendid  fighting  qualities  of  Mary 
land  soldiers  who  had  previously  joined  us. 

The  movement  into  Pennsylvania  in  1863  was  also,  in 
part  at  least,  a  recruiting  expedition.  We  did  not  ex 
pect,  it  is  true,  to  gather  soldiers  for  our  ranks,  but 
beeves  for  our  commissary.  For  more  than  two  years 
the  effort  to  fill  the  ranks  of  the  Southern  armies  had 
alarmingly  reduced  the  ranks  of  Southern  producers, 
with  no  appreciable  diminution  in  the  number  of  con 
sumers.  Indeed,  the  consumers  had  materially  increased ; 
for  while  we  were  not  then  seeking  to  encourage  North 
ern  immigration,  we  had  a  large  number  of  visitors  from 


GETTYSBURG  139 

that  and  other  sections,  who  were  exploring  the  country 
under  such  efficient  guides  as  McClellan,  Hooker,  Grant, 
Sherman,  Thomas,  and  others.  We  had,  therefore,  much 
need  of  borrowing  supplies  from  our  neighbors  beyond 
the  Potomac.  The  bill  of  fare  of  some  commands  was 
already  very  short  and  by  no  means  appetizing.  General 
Ewell,  having  exhausted  the  contents  of  his  larder, 
thought  to  replenish  it  from  the  surrounding  country  by 
a  personal  raid,  and  returned  after  a  long  and  dusty  hunt 
with  a  venerable  ox,  which  would  not  have  made  a  mor 
sel,  on  division,  for  one  per  cent,  of  his  command.  EwelPs 
ox  had  on  him,  however,  that  peculiar  quality  of  flesh 
which  is  essential  in  feeding  an  army  on  short  rations. 
It  was  durable— irreducible. 

The  whole  country  in  the  Wilderness  and  around  Chan- 
cellorsville,  where  both  Hooker's  and  Lee's  armies  had 
done  some  foraging,  and  thence  to  the  Potomac,  was 
well-nigh  exhausted.  This  was  true,  also,  of  a  large  por 
tion  of  the  Piedmont  region  and  of  the  Valley  of  Virginia 
beyond  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains ;  while  the  lower  val 
ley,  along  the  Shenandoah,  had  long  been  the  beaten 
track  arid  alternate  camping-ground  of  both  Confederate 
and  Union  armies.  It  had  contributed  to  the  support  of 
both  armies  until  it  could  contribute  no  more.  How  to 
subsist,  therefore,  was  becoming  a  serious  question.  The 
hungry  hosts  of  Israel  did  not  look  across  Jordan  to  the 
vine-clad  hills  of  Canaan  with  more  longing  eyes  than 
did  Lee's  braves  contemplate  the  yellow  grain-fields  of 
Pennsylvania  beyond  the  Potomac. 

Again,  to  defend  Richmond  by  threatening  Washing 
ton  and  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  was  perhaps  the 
most  promising  purpose  of  the  Confederate  invasion. 
Incidentally,  it  was  hoped  that  a  defeat  of  the  Union 
army  in  territory  so  contiguous  to  these  great  cities 
would  send  gold  to  such  a  premium  as  to  cause  financial 
panic  in  the  commercial  centres,  and  induce  the  great 


140  REMINISCENCES  OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

business  interests  to  demand  that  the  war  should  cease. 
But  the  hoped-for  victory,  with  its  persuasive  influence, 
did  not  materialize.  Indeed,  the  presence  of  Lee's  army 
in  Pennsylvania  seemed  to  arouse  the  North  to  still 
greater  efforts,  as  the  presence  of  the  Union  armies  in 
the  South  had  intensified,  if  possible,  the  decision  of  her 
people  to  resist  to  the  last  extremity. 

The  appearance  of  my  troops  on  the  flank  of  General 
Meade's  army  during  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  not 
our  first  approach  into  that  little  city  which  was  to  be 
come  the  turning-point  in  the  Confederacy's  fortunes. 
Having  been  detached  from  General  Lee's  army,  my 
brigade  had,  some  days  prior  to  the  great  battle,  passed 
through  Gettysburg  on  our  march  to  the  Susquehanna. 
Upon  those  now  historic  hills  I  had  met  a  small  force  of 
Union  soldiers,  and  had  there  fought  a  diminutive  battle 
when  the  armies  of  both  Meade  and  Lee  were  many  miles 
away.  When,  therefore,  my  command  —  which  pene 
trated  farther,  I  believe,  than  any  other  Confederate 
infantry  into  the  heart  of  Pennsylvania — was  recalled 
from  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna  to  take  part  in  the 
prolonged  and  stupendous  struggle,  I  expressed  to  my 
staff  the  opinion  that  if  the  battle  should  be  fought  at 
Gettysburg,  the  army  which  held  the  heights  would  prob 
ably  be  the  victor.  The  insignificant  encounter  I  had 
had  on  those  hills  impressed  their  commanding  impor 
tance  upon  me  as  nothing  else  could  have  done. 

The  Valley  of  Pennsylvania,  through  which  my  com 
mand  marched  from  Gettysburg  to  Wrightsville  on  the 
Susquehanna,  awakened  the  most  conflicting  emotions. 
It  was  delightful  to  look  upon  such  a  scene  of  universal 
thrift  and  plenty.  Its  broad  grain-fields,  clad  in  golden 
garb,  were  waving  their  welcome  to  the  reapers  and 
binders.  Some  fields  were  already  dotted  over  with 
harvested  shocks.  The  huge  barns  on  the  highest 
grounds  meant  to  my  sore-footed  marchers  a  mount,  a 


GETTYSBURG  141 

ride,  and  a  rest  on  broad-backed  horses.  On  every  side, 
as  far  as  our  alert  vision  could  reach,  all  aspects  and 
conditions  conspired  to  make  this  fertile  and  carefully 
tilled  region  a  panorama  both  interesting  and  enchant 
ing.  It  was  a  type  of  the  fair  and  fertile  Valley  of  Vir 
ginia  at  its  best,  before  it  became  the  highway  of  armies 
and  the  ravages  of  war  had  left  it  wasted  and  bare.  This 
melancholy  contrast  between  these  charming  districts, 
so  similar  in  other  respects,  brought  to  our  Southern 
sensibilities  a  touch  of  sadness.  In  both  these  lovely 
valleys  were  the  big  red  barns,  representing  in  their 
silent  dignity  the  independence  of  their  owners.  In 
both  were  the  old-fashioned  brick  or  stone  mansions, 
differing  in  style  of  architecture  and  surroundings  as 
Teutonic  manners  and  tastes  differ  from  those  of  the 
Cavalier.  In  both  were  the  broad  green  meadows  with 
luxuriant  grasses  and  crystal  springs. 

One  of  these  springs  impressed  itself  on  my  memory 
by  its  great  beauty  and  the  unique  uses  to  which  its 
owner  had  put  it.  He  was  a  staid  and  laborious  farmer 
of  German  descent.  With  an  eye  to  utility,  as  well 
as  to  the  health  and  convenience  of  his  household,  he 
had  built  his  dining-room  immediately  over  this  foun 
tain  gushing  from  a  cleft  in  an  underlying  rock.  My 
camp  for  the  night  was  near  by,  and  I  accepted  his  invi 
tation  to  breakfast  with  him.  As  I  entered  the  quaint 
room,  one  half  floored  with  smooth  limestone,  and  the 
other  half  covered  with  limpid  water  bubbling  clear  and 
pure  from  the  bosom  of  Mother  Earth,  my  amazement  at 
the  singular  design  was  perhaps  less  pronounced  than 
the  sensation  of  rest  which  it  produced.  For  many  days 
we  had  been  marching  on  the  dusty  turnpikes,  under  a 
broiling  sun,  and  it  is  easier  to  imagine  than  to  describe 
the  feeling  of  relief  and  repose  which  came  over  me  as 
we  sat  in  that  cool  room,  with  a  hot  breakfast  served 
from  one  side,  while  from  the  other  the  frugal  housewife 


142    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

dipped  cold  milk  and  cream  from  immense  jars  standing 
neck-deep  in  water. 

We  entered  the  city  of  York  on  Sunday  morning.  A 
committee,  composed  of  the  mayor  and  prominent  citi 
zens,  met  my  command  on  the  main  pike  before  we 
reached  the  corporate  limits,  their  object  being  to  make 
a  peaceable  surrender  and  ask  for  protection  to  life  and 
property.  They  returned,  I  think,  with  a  feeling  of 
assured  safety.  The  church  bells  were  ringing,  and  the 
streets  were  filled  with  well-dressed  people.  The  appear 
ance  of  these  church-going  men,  women,  and  children,  in 
their  Sunday  attire,  strangely  contrasted  with  that  of  my 
marching  soldiers.  Begrimed  as  we  were  from  head  to 
foot  with  the  impalpable  gray  powder  which  rose  in 
dense  columns  from  the  macadamized  pikes  and  settled 
in  sheets  on  men,  horses,  and  wagons,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  many  of  York's  inhabitants  were  terror-stricken  as 
they  looked  upon  us.  We  had  been  compelled  on  these 
forced  marches  to  leave  baggage- wagons  behind  us,  and 
there  was  no  possibility  of  a  change  of  clothing,  and  no 
time  for  brushing  uniforms  or  washing  the  disfiguring 
dust  from  faces,  hair,  or  beard.  All  these  were  of  the 
same  hideous  hue.  The  grotesque  aspect  of  my  troops 
was  accentuated  here  and  there,  too,  by  barefooted  men 
mounted  double  upon  huge  horses  with  shaggy  manes 
and  long  fetlocks.  Confederate  pride,  to  say  nothing  of 
Southern  gallantry,  was  subjected  to  the  sorest  trial  by 
the  consternation  produced  among  the  ladies  of  York. 
In  my  eagerness  to  relieve  the  citizens  from  all  appre 
hension,  I  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  this  turnpike  powder 
was  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  that  it  enveloped  all 
alike — officers  as  well  as  privates.  Had  I  realized  the 
wish  of  Burns,  that  some  power  would  "  the  giftie  gie 
us,  to  see  oursels  as  ithers  see  us,"  I  might  have  avoided 
the  slight  panic  created  by  my  effort  to  allay  a  larger 
one.  Halting  on  the  main  street,  where  the  sidewalks 


GETTYSBURG  143 

were  densely  packed,  I  rode  a  few  rods  in  advance  of  my 
troops,  in  order  to  speak  to  the  people  from  my  horse. 
As  I  checked  him  and  turned  my  full  dust-begrimed 
face  upon  a  bevy  of  young  ladies  very  near  me,  a  cry  of 
alarm  came  from  their  midst ;  but  after  a  few  words  of 
assurance  from  me,  quiet  and  apparent  confidence  were 
restored.  I  assured  these  ladies  that  the  troops  behind 
me,  though  ill-clad  and  travel-stained,  were  good  men 
and  brave;  that  beneath  their  rough  exteriors  were 
hearts  as  loyal  to  women  as  ever  beat  in  the  breasts  of 
honorable  men ;  that  their  own  experience  and  the  ex 
perience  of  their  mothers,  wives,  and  sisters  at  home 
had  taught  them  how  painful  must  be  the  sight  of  a 
hostile  army  in  their  town ;  that  under  the  orders  of  the 
Confederate  commander-in-chief  both  private  property 
and  non-combcatants  were  safe ;  that  the  spirit  of  ven 
geance  and  of  rapine  had  no  place  in  the  bosoms  of  these 
dust-covered  but  knightly  men ;  and  I  closed  by  pledging 
to  York  the  head  of  any  soldier  under  my  command  who 
destroyed  private  property,  disturbed  the  repose  of  a 
single  home,  or  insulted  a  woman. 

As  we  moved  along  the  street  after  this  episode,  a 
little  girl,  probably  twelve  years  of  age,  ran  up  to  my 
horse  and  handed  me  a  large  bouquet  of  flowers,  in  the 
centre  of  which  was  a  note,  in  delicate  handwriting, 
purporting  to  give  the  numbers  and  describe  the  posi 
tion  of  the  Union  forces  of  Wrightsville,  toward  which 
I  was  advancing.  I  carefully  read  and  reread  this 
strange  note.  It  bore  no  signature,  and  contained  no 
assurance  of  sympathy  for  the  Southern  cause,  but  it 
was  so  terse  and  explicit  in  its  terms  as  to  compel 
my  confidence.  The  second  day  we  were  in  front  of 
Wrightsville,  and  from  the  high  ridge  on  which  this 
note  suggested  that  I  halt  and  examine  the  position  of 
the  Union  troops,  I  eagerly  scanned  the  prospect  with 
my  field-glasses,  in  order  to  verify  the  truth  of  the  mys- 


144    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

terious  communication  or  detect  its  misrepresentations. 
There,  in  full  view  before  us,  was  the  town,  just  as 
described,  nestling  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna. 
There  was  the  blue  line  of  soldiers  guarding  the  ap 
proach,  drawn  up,  as  indicated,  along  an  intervening 
ridge  and  across  the  pike.  There  was  the  long  bridge 
spanning  the  Susquehanna  and  connecting  the  town 
with  Columbia  on  the  other  bank.  Most  important  of 
all,  there  was  the  deep  gorge  or  ravine  running  off  to 
the  right  and  extending  around  the  left  flank  of  the 
Federal  line  and  to  the  river  below  the  bridge.  Not  an 
inaccurate  detail  in  that  note  could  be  discovered.  I 
did  not  hesitate,  therefore,  to  adopt  its  suggestion  of 
moving  down  the  gorge  in  order  to  throw  my  command 
on  the  flank,  or  possibly  in  the  rear,  of  the  Union  troops 
and  force  them  to  a  rapid  retreat  or  surrender.  The  re 
sult  of  this  movement  vindicated  the  strategic  wisdom 
of  my  unknown  and— judging  by  the  handwriting- 
woman  correspondent,  whose  note  was  none  the  less 
martial  because  embedded  in  roses,  and  whose  evident 
genius  for  war,  had  occasion  offered,  might  have  made 
her  a  captain  equal  to  Catherine. 

As  I  have  intimated,  the  orders  from  General  Lee  for 
the  protection  of  private  property  and  persons  were  of 
the  most  stringent  character.  Guided  by  these  instruc 
tions  and  by  my  own  impulses,  I  resolved  to  leave  no 
ruins  along  the  line  of  my  march  through  Pennsylvania ; 
no  marks  of  a  more  enduring  character  than  the  tracks 
of  my  soldiers  along  its  superb  pikes.  I  cannot  be  mis 
taken  in  the  opinion  that  the  citizens  who  then  lived 
and  still  live  on  these  highways  will  bear  me  out  in  the 
assertion  that  we  marched  into  that  delightful  region, 
and  then  marched  out  of  it,  without  leaving  any  scars 
to  mar  its  beauty  or  lessen  its  value.  Perhaps  I  ought 
to  record  two  insignificant  exceptions. 

Going  into  camp  in  an  open  country  and  after  dark, 


GETTYSBURG  145 

it  was  ascertained  that  there  was  no  wood  to  be  had  for 
even  the  limited  amount  of  necessary  cooking,  and  I  was 
appealed  to  by  the  men  for  permission  to  use  a  few  rails 
from  an  old-fashioned  fence  near  the  camp.  I  agreed 
that  they  might  take  the  top  layer  of  rails,  as  the  fence 
would  still  be  high  enough  to  answer  the  farmer's  pur 
pose.  When  morning  came  the  fence  had  nearly  all 
disappeared,  and  each  man  declared  that  he  had  taken 
only  the  top  rail !  The  authorized  ( ?)  destruction  of  that 
fence  is  not  difficult  to  understand !  It  was  a  case  of 
adherence  to  the  letter  and  neglect  of  the  spirit;  but 
there  was  no  alternative  except  good-naturedly  to  admit 
that  my  men  had  gotten  the  better  of  me  that  time. 

The  other  case  of  insignificant  damage  inflicted  by  our 
presence  in  the  Valley  of  Pennsylvania  was  the  appli 
cation  of  the  Confederate  "conscript  law"  in  drafting 
Pennsylvania  horses  into  service.  That  law  was  passed 
by  the  Confederate  Congress  in  order  to  call  into  our 
ranks  able-bodied  men  at  the  South,  but  my  soldiers 
seemed  to  think  that  it  might  be  equally  serviceable  for 
the  ingathering  of  able-bodied  horses  at  the  North.  The 
trouble  was  that  most  of  these  horses  had  fled  the 
country  or  were  in  hiding,  and  the  owners  of  the  few 
that  were  left  were  not  submissive  to  Southern  authority. 
One  of  these  owners,  who,  I  believe,  had  not  many  years 
before  left  his  fatherland  and  was  not  an  expert  in  the 
use  of  English,  attempted  to  save  his  favorite  animal  by 
a  verbal  combat  with  my  quartermaster.  That  officer, 
however,  failing  to  understand  him,  sent  him  to  me. 
The  "  Pennsylvania  Dutchman,"  as  his  class  was  known 
in  the  Valley,  was  soon  firing  at  me  his  broken  English, 
and  opened  his  argument  with  the  announcement :  "You 
be's  got  my  mare."  I  replied,  "It  is  not  at  all  improba 
ble,  my  friend,  that  I  have  your  mare,  but  the  game  we 
are  now  playing  is  what  was  called  in  my  boyhood  Hit 
for  tat?";  and  I  endeavored  to  explain  to  him  that  the 


146    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

country  was  at  war,  that  at  the  South  horses  were  be 
ing  taken  by  the  Union  soldiers,  and  that  I  was  trying 
on  a  small  scale  to  balance  accounts.  I  flattered  myself 
that  this  statement  of  the  situation  would  settle  the 
matter;  but  the  explanation  was  far  more  satisfactory 
to  myself  than  to  him.  He  insisted  that  I  had  not  paid 
for  his  mare.  I  at  once  offered  to  pay  him— in  Con 
federate  money ;  I  had  no  other.  This  he  indignantly 
refused.  Finally  I  offered  to  give  him  a  written  order 
for  the  price  of  his  mare  on  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  This  offer  set  him  to  thinking.  He  was  quite 
disposed  to  accept  it,  but,  like  a  dim  ray  of  starlight 
through  a  rift  in  the  clouds  at  night,  there  gradually 
dawned  on  him  the  thought  that  there  might  possibly 
be  some  question  as  to  my  authority  for  drawing  on  the 
President.  The  suggestion  of  this  doubt  exhausted  his 
patience,  and  in  his  righteous  exasperation,  like  his  great 
countryman  hurling  the  inkstand  at  the  devil,  he 
pounded  me  with  expletives  in  so  furious  a  style  that, 
although  I  could  not  interpret  them  into  English,  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  comprehending  their  meaning.  The 
words  which  I  did  catch  and  understand  showed  that  he 
was  making  a  comparison  of  values  between  his  mare 
and  his  "free  vifes."  The  climax  of  his  argument  was 
in  these  words:  "I  've  been  married,  sir,  free  times,  and 
I  vood  not  geef  dot  mare  for  all  dose  voomans." 

With  so  sincere  an  admirer  of  woman  as  myself  such 
an  argument  could  scarcely  be  recognized  as  forcible; 
but  I  was  also  a  great  lover  of  fine  horses,  and  this  poor 
fellow's  distress  at  the  loss  of  his  favorite  mare  was  so 
genuine  and  acute  that  I  finally  yielded  to  his  entreaties 
and  had  her  delivered  to  him. 

When  General  Early  reached  York  a  few  days  later, 
he  entered  into  some  business  negotiations  with  the  offi 
cials  and  prominent  citizens  of  that  city.  I  was  not  ad 
vised  as  to  the  exact  character  of  those  negotiations,  but 


GETTYSBURG  147 

it  was  rumored  through  that  portion  of  the  array  at  the 
time  that  General  Early  wanted  to  borrow,  or  secure  in 
some  other  way,  for  the  use  of  his  troops,  a  certain 
amount  of  greenbacks,  and  that  he  succeeded  in  making 
the  arrangement.  I  learned  afterward  that  the  only 
promise  to  repay,  like  that  of  the  Confederate  notes,  was 
at  some  date  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  Southern 
independence. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  note  concealed  in  the 
flowers  handed  me  at  York  had  indicated  a  ravine  down 
which  I  could  move,  reaching  the  river  not  far  from  the 
bridge.  As  my  orders  were  not  restricted,  except  to 
direct  me  to  cross  the  Susquehanna,  if  possible,  my  im 
mediate  object  was  to  move  rapidly  down  that  ravine  to 
the  river,  then  along  its  right  bank  to  the  bridge,  seize 
it,  and  cross  to  the  Columbia  side.  Once  across,  I  in 
tended  to  mount  my  men,  if  practicable,  so  as  to  pass 
rapidly  through  Lancaster  in  the  direction  of  Philadel 
phia,  and  thus  compel  General  Meade  to  send  a  portion 
of  his  army  to  the  defence  of  that  city.  This  programme 
was  defeated,  first,  by  the  burning  of  the  bridge,  and 
second,  by  the  imminent  prospect  of  battle  near  Gettys 
burg.  The  Union  troops  stationed  at  Wrightsville  had, 
after  their  retreat  across  it,  fired  the  bridge  which  I 
had  hoped  to  secure,  and  had  then  stood  in  battle  line  on 
the  opposite  shore.  With  great  energy  my  men  labored 
to  save  the  bridge.  I  called  on  the  citizens  of  Wrights 
ville  for  buckets  and  pails,  but  none  were  to  be  found. 
There  was,  however,  no  lack  of  buckets  and  pails  a  little 
later,  when  the  town  was  on  fire.  The  bridge  might  burn, 
for  that  incommoded,  at  the  time,  only  the  impatient  Con 
federates,  and  these  Pennsylvanians  were  not  in  sym 
pathy  with  my  expedition,  nor  anxious  to  facilitate  the 
movement  of  such  unwelcome  visitors.  But  when  the 
burning  bridge  fired  the  lumber-yards  on  the  river's 
banks,  and  the  burning  lumber  fired  the  town,  buckets 


148   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

and  tubs  and  pails  and  pans  innumerable  came  from 
their  hiding-places,  until  it  seemed  that,  had  the  whole  of 
Lee's  army  been  present,  I  could  have  armed  them  with 
these  implements  to  fight  the  rapidly  spreading  flames. 
My  men  labored  as  earnestly  and  bravely  to  save  the 
town  as  they  did  to  save  the  bridge.  In  the  absence  of 
fire-engines  or  other  appliances,  the  only  chance  to  arrest 
the  progress  of  the  flames  was  to  form  my  men  around 
the  burning  district,  with  the  flank  resting  on  the  river's 
edge,  and  pass  rapidly  from  hand  to  hand  the  pails  of 
water.  Thus,  and  thus  only,  was  the  advancing,  raging 
fire  met,  and  at  a  late  hour  of  the  night  checked  and 
conquered.  There  was  one  point  especially  at  which  my 
soldiers  combated  the  fire's  progress  with  immense  en 
ergy,  and  with  great  difficulty  saved  an  attractive  home 
from  burning.  It  chanced  to  be  the  home  of  one  of  the 
most  superb  women  it  was  my  fortune  to  meet  during 
the  four  years  of  war.  She  was  Mrs.  L.  L.  Rewalt,  to 
whom  I  refer  in  my  lecture,  "  The  Last  Days  of  the  Con 
federacy,"  as  the  heroine  of  the  Susquehanna.  I  met 
Mrs.  Rewalt  the  morning  after  the  fire  had  been  checked. 
She  had  witnessed  the  furious  combat  with  the  flames 
around  her  home,  and  was  unwilling  that  those  men 
should  depart  without  receiving  some  token  of  apprecia 
tion  from  her.  She  was  not  wealthy,  and  could  not  en 
tertain  my  whole  command,  but  she  was  blessed  with  an 
abundance  of  those  far  nobler  riches  of  brain  and  heart 
which  are  the  essential  glories  of  exalted  womanhood. 
Accompanied  by  an  attendant,  and  at  a  late  hour  of  the 
night,  she  sought  me,  in  the  confusion  which  followed 
the  destructive  fire,  to  express  her  gratitude  to  the  sol 
diers  of  my  command  and  to  inquire  how  long  we  would 
remain  in  Wrightsville.  On  learning  that  the  village 
would  be  relieved  of  our  presence  at  an  early  hour  the 
following  morning,  she  insisted  that  I  should  bring  with 
me  to  breakfast  at  her  house  as  many  as  could  find  places 


GETTYSBURG  149 

in  her  dining-room.  She  would  take  no  excuse,  not  even 
the  nervous  condition  in  which  the  excitement  of  the 
previous  hours  had  left  her.  At  a  bountifully  supplied 
table  in  the  early  morning  sat  this  modest,  cultured 
woman,  surrounded  by  soldiers  in  their  worn,  gray 
uniforms.  The  welcome  she  gave  us  was  so  gracious, 
she  was  so  self-possessed,  so  calm  and  kind,  that  I  found 
myself  in  an  inquiring  state  of  mind  as  to  whether  her 
sympathies  were  with  the  Northern  or  Southern  side  in 
the  pending  war.  Cautiously,  but  with  sufficient  clear 
ness  to  indicate  to  her  my  object,  I  ventured  some  re 
marks  which  she  could  not  well  ignore  and  which  she 
instantly  saw  were  intended  to  evoke  some  declaration 
upon  the  subject.  She  was  too  brave  to  evade  it,  too 
self-poised  to  be  confused  by  it,  and  too  firmly  fixed  in 
her  convictions  to  hesitate  as  to  the  answer.  With  no 
one  present  except  Confederate  soldiers  who  were  her 
guests,  she  replied,  without  a  quiver  in  her  voice,  but 
with  womanly  gentleness :  "  General  Gordon,  I  fully 
comprehend  you,  and  it  is  due  to  myself  that  I  candidly 
tell  you  that  I  am  a  Union  woman.  I  cannot  afford  to 
be  misunderstood,  nor  to  have  you  misinterpret  this 
simple  courtesy.  You  and  your  soldiers  last  night  saved 
my  home  from  burning,  and  I  was  unwilling  that  you 
should  go  away  without  receiving  some  token  of  my 
appreciation.  I  must  tell  you,  however,  that,  with  my 
assent  and  approval,  my  husband  is  a  soldier  in  the 
Union  army,  and  my  constant  prayer  to  Heaven  is  that 
our  cause  may  triumph  and  the  Union  be  saved." 

No  Confederate  left  that  room  without  a  feeling  of 
profound  respect,  of  unqualified  admiration,  for  that 
brave  and  worthy  woman.  No  Southern  soldier,  no 
true  Southern  man,  who  reads  this  account  will  fail  to 
render  to  her  a  like  tribute  of  appreciation.  The  spirit 
of  every  high-souled  Southerner  was  made  to  thrill  over 
and  over  again  at  the  evidence  around  him  of  the  more 


150  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

than  Spartan  courage,  the  self-sacrifices  and  devotion, 
of  Southern  women,  at  every  stage  and  through  every 
trial  of  the  war,  as  from  first  to  last,  they  hurried  to  the 
front,  their  brothers  and  fathers,  their  husbands  and 
sons.  No  Southern  man  can  ever  forget  the  words  of 
cheer  that  came  from  these  heroic  women's  lips,  and 
their  encouragement  to  hope  and  fight  on  in  the  midst 
of  despair.  When  I  met  Mrs.  Re  wait  in  Wrights  ville, 
the  parting  with  my  own  mother  was  still  fresh  in  my 
memory.  Nothing  short  of  death's  hand  can  ever  oblit 
erate  from  my  heart  the  impression  of  that  parting. 
Holding  me  in  her  arms,  her  heart  almost  bursting  with 
anguish,  and  the  tears  running  down  her  cheeks,  she 
asked  God  to  take  care  of  me,  and  then  said  :  "  Go, 
my  son;  I  shall  perhaps  never  see  you  again,  but  I 
commit  you  freely  to  the  service  of  your  country." 
I  had  witnessed,  as  all  Southern  soldiers  had  witnessed, 
the  ever-increasing  consecration  of  those  women  to  their 
cause.  No  language  can  fitly  describe  their  saintly 
spirit  of  martyrdom,  which  grew  stronger  and  rose 
higher  when  all  other  eyes  could  see  the  inevitable  end 
of  the  terrific  struggle  slowly  but  surely  approaching. 

Returning  from  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  and 
meeting  at  Gettysburg,  July  1,  1863,  the  advance  of 
Lee's  forces,  my  command  was  thrown  quickly  and 
squarely  on  the  right  flank  of  the  Union  army.  A 
more  timely  arrival  never  occurred.  The  battle  had 
been  raging  for  four  or  five  hours.  The  Confederate 
General  Archer,  with  a  large  portion  of  his  brigade,  had 
been  captured.  Heth  and  Scales,  Confederate  generals, 
had  been  wounded.  The  ranking  Union  commander  on 
the  field,  General  Reynolds,  had  been  killed,  and  Han 
cock  was  assigned  to  command.  The  battle,  upon  the 
issue  of  which  hung,  perhaps,  the  fate  of  the  Confeder 
acy,  was  in  full  blast.  The  Union  forces,  at  first  driven 


GETTYSBURG  151 

back,  now  reenforced,  were  again  advancing  and  pressing 
back  Lee's  left  and  threatening  to  envelop  it.  The 
Confederates  were  stubbornly  contesting  every  foot  of 
ground,  but  the  Southern  left  was  slowly  yielding.  A 
few  moments  more  and  the  day's  battle  might  have  been 
ended  by  the  complete  turning  of  Lee's  flank.  I  was 
ordered  to  move  at  once  to  the  aid  of  the  heavily 
pressed  Confederates.  With  a  ringing  yell,  my  com 
mand  rushed  upon  the  line  posted  to  protect  the  Union 
right.  Here  occurred  a  hand-to-hand  struggle.  That 
protecting  Union  line  once  broken  left  my  command 
not  only  on  the  right  flank,  but  obliquely  in  rear  of  it. 
Any  troops  that  were  ever  marshalled  would,  under  like 
conditions,  have  been  as  surely  and  swiftly  shattered. 
There  was  no  alternative  for  Howard's  men  except  to 
break  and  fly,  or  to  throw  down  their  arms  and  sur 
render.  Under  the  concentrated  fire  from  front  and 
flank,  the  marvel  is  that  any  escaped.  In  the  midst  of 
the  wild  disorder  in  his  ranks,  and  through  a  storm  of 
bullets,  a  Union  officer  was  seeking  to  rally  his  men  for 
a  final  stand.  He,  too,  went  down,  pierced  by  a  Minie 
ball.  Riding  forward  with  my  rapidly  advancing  lines, 
I  discovered  that  brave  officer  lying  upon  his  back,  with 
the  July  sun  pouring  its  rays  into  his  pale  face.  He 
was  surrounded  by  the  Union  dead,  and  his  own  life 
seemed  to  be  rapidly  ebbing  out.  Quickly  dismounting 
and  lifting  his  head,  I  gave  him  water  from  my  canteen, 
asked  his  name  and  the  character  of  his  wounds.  He 
was  Major-General  Francis  C.  Barlow,  of  New  York, 
and  of  Howard's  corps.  The  ball  had  entered  his  body 
in  front  and  passed  out  near  the  spinal  cord,  paralyzing 
him  in  legs  and  arms.  Neither  of  us  had  the  remotest 
thought  that  he  could  possibly  survive  many  hours.  I 
summoned  several  soldiers  who  were  looking  after  the 
wounded,  and  directed  them  to  place  him  upon  a  litter 
and  carry  him  to  the  shade  in  the  rear.  Before  parting, 


152  EEMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

he  asked  me  to  take  from  Lis  pocket  a  package  of  letters 
and  destroy  them.  They  were  from  his  wife.  He  had 
but  one  request  to  make  of  me.  That  request  was  that 
if  I  should  live  to  the  end  of  the  war  and  should  ever 
meet  Mrs.  Barlow,  I  would  tell  her  of  our  meeting  on 
the  field  of  Gettysburg  and  of  his  thoughts  of  her  in  his 
last  moments.  He  wished  me  to  assure  her  that  he  died 
doing  his  duty  at  the  front,  that  he  was  willing  to  give 
his  life  for  his  country,  and  that  his  deepest  regret  was 
that  he  must  die  without  looking  upon  her  face  again. 
I  learned  that  Mrs.  Barlow  was  with  the  Union  army, 
and  near  the  battle-field.  When  it  is  remembered  how 
closely  Mrs.  Gordon  followed  me,  it  will  not  be  difficult 
to  realize  that  my  sympathies  were  especially  stirred  by 
the  announcement  that  his  wife  was  so  near  him. 
Passing  through  the  day's  battle  unhurt,  I  despatched 
at  its  close,  under  flag  of  truce,  the  promised  message 
to  Mrs.  Barlow.  I  assured  her  that  if  she  wished  to 
come  through  the  lines  she  should  have  safe  escort  to 
her  husband's  side.  In  the  desperate  encounters  of  the 
two  succeeding  days,  and  the  retreat  of  Lee's  army,  I 
thought  no  more  of  Barlow,  except  to  number  him 
with  the  noble  dead  of  the  two  armies  who  had  so  glo 
riously  met  their  fate.  The  ball,  however,  had  struck 
no  vital  point,  and  Barlow  slowly  recovered,  though 
this  fact  was  wholly  unknown  to  me.  The  following 
summer,  in  battle  near  Richmond,  my  kinsman  with 
the  same  initials,  General  J.  B.  Gordon  of  North  Caro 
lina,  was  killed.  Barlow,  who  had  recovered,  saw  the 
announcement  of  his  death,  and  entertained  no  doubt 
that  he  was  the  Gordon  whom  he  had  met  on  the  field 
of  Gettysburg.  To  me,  therefore,  Barlow  was  dead ;  to 
Barlow,  I  was  dead.  Nearly  fifteen  years  passed  before 
either  of  us  was  undeceived.  During  my  second  term 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  the  Hon.  Clarkson  Potter, 
of  New  York,  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Represen- 


GETTYSBURG  153 

tatives.  He  invited  me  to  dinner  in  Washington  to 
meet  a  General  Barlow  who  had  served  in  the  Union 
army.  Potter  knew  nothing  of  the  Gettysburg  inci 
dent.  I  had  heard  that  there  was  another  Barlow  in 
the  Union  army,  and  supposed,  of  course,  that  it 
was  this  Barlow  with  whom  I  was  to  dine.  Barlow  had 
a  similar  reflection  as  to  the  Gordon  he  was  to  meet. 
Seated  at  Clarkson  Potter's  table,  I  asked  Barlow: 
"  General,  are  you  related  to  the  Barlow  who  was  killed 
at  Gettysburg ! "  He  replied :  "  Why,  I  am  the  man, 
sir.  Are  you  related  to  the  Gordon  who  killed  me  ? " 
"  I  am  the  man,  sir,"  I  responded.  No  words  of  mine 
can  convey  any  conception  of  the  emotions  awakened 
by  those  startling  announcements.  Nothing  short  of 
an  actual  resurrection  from  the  dead  could  have  amazed 
either  of  us  more.  Thenceforward,  until  his  untimely 
death  in  1896,  the  friendship  between  us  which  was  born 
amidst  the  thunders  of  Gettysburg  was  greatly  cher 
ished  by  both. 

No  battle  of  our  Civil  War — no  battle  of  any  war — 
more  forcibly  illustrates  the  truth  that  officers  at  a  dis 
tance  from  the  field  cannot,  with  any  wisdom,  attempt 
to  control  the  movements  of  troops  actively  engaged. 
On  the  first  day  neither  General  Early  nor  General  Ewell 
could  possibly  have  been  fully  cognizant  of  the  situation 
at  the  time  I  was  ordered  to  halt.  The  whole  of  that 
portion  of  the  Union  army  in  my  front  was  in  inextri 
cable  confusion  and  in  flight.  They  were  necessarily  in 
flight,  for  my  troops  were  upon  the  flank  and  rapidly 
sweeping  down  the  lines.  The  firing  upon  my  men  had 
almost  ceased.  Large  bodies  of  the  Union  troops  were 
throwing  down  their  arms  and  surrendering,  because  in 
disorganized  and  confused  masses  they  were  wholly 
powerless  either  to  check  the  movement  or  return  the 
fire.  As  far  down  the  lines  as  my  eye  could  reach  the 
Union  troops  were  in  retreat.  Those  at  a  distance  were 


154  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

still  resisting,  but  giving  ground,  and  it  was  only  neces 
sary  for  me  to  press  forward  in  order  to  insure  the  same 
results  which  invariably  follow  such  flank  movements. 
In  less  than  half  an  hour  my  troops  would  have  swept 
up  and  over  those  hills,  the  possession  of  which  was  of 
such  momentous  consequence.  It  is  not  surprising,  with 
a  full  realization  of  the  consequences  of  a  halt,  that  I 
should  have  refused  at  first  to  obey  the  order.  Not  until 
the  third  or  fourth  order  of  the  most  peremptory  char 
acter  reached  me  did  I  obey.  I  think  I  should  have 
risked  the  consequences  of  disobedience  even  then  but 
for  the  fact  that  the  order  to  halt  was  accompanied  with 
the  explanation  that  General  Lee,  who  was  several  miles 
away,  did  not  wish  to  give  battle  at  Gettysburg.  It  is 
stated  on  the  highest  authority  that  General  Lee  said, 
sometime  before  his  death,  that  if  Jackson  had  been 
there  he  would  have  won  in  this  battle  a  great  and  pos 
sibly  decisive  victory. 

The  Eev.  J.  William  Jones,  D.D.,  writing  of  this  state 
ment  of  General  Lee's,  uses  these  words :  "  General  Lee 
made  that  remark  to  Professor  James  J.  White  and  myself 
in  his  office  in  Lexington  one  day  when  we  chanced  to  go 
in  as  he  was  reading  a  letter  making  some  inquiries  of 
him  about  Gettysburg.  He  said,  with  an  emphasis  that  I 
cannot  forget,  and  bringing  his  hand  down  on  the  table 
with  a  force  that  made  things  rattle:  'If  I  had  had 
Stonewall  Jackson  at  Gettysburg,  I  would  have  won  that 
fight,  and  a  complete  victory  there  would  have  given  us 
Washington  and  Baltimore,  if  not  Philadelphia,  and 
would  have  established  the  independence  of  the  Con 
federacy.'  " 

No  soldier  in  a  great  crisis  ever  wished  more  ardently 
for  a  deliverer's  hand  than  I  wished  for  one  hour  of 
Jackson  when  I  was  ordered  to  halt.  Had  he  been  there, 
his  quick  eye  would  have  caught  at  a  glance  the  entire 
situation,  and  instead  of  halting  me  he  would  have  urged 


GETTYSBURG  155 

me  forward  and  have  pressed  the  advantage  to  the 
utmost,  simply  notifying  General  Lee  that  the  battle 
was  on  and  he  had  decided  to  occupy  the  heights.  Had 
General  Lee  himself  been  present  this  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  done.  General  Lee,  as  he  came  in  sight  of  the 
battle-field  that  afternoon,  sent  Colonel  Walter  H.  Taylor, 
of  the  staff  (he  makes  this  statement  clearly  in  his  book, 
"  Four  Years  with  Lee  "),  with  an  order  to  General  Ewell 
to  "  advance  and  occupy  the  heights."  General  Ewell 
replied  that  he  would  do  so,  and  afterward  explained  in 
his  official  report  that  he  did  not  do  so  because  of  the 
report  from  General  William  Smith  that  the  enemy 
was  advancing  on  his  flank  and  rear,  the  supposed 
enemy  turning  out  to  be  General  Edward  Johnson's  Con 
federate  division.  Absent  as  General  Lee  necessarily 
was,  and  intending  to  meet  General  Meade  at  another 
point  and  in  defensive  battle,  he  would  still  have  ap 
plauded,  when  the  facts  were  made  known,  the  most 
aggressive  movements,  though  in  conflict  with  his 
general  plan.  From  the  situation  plainly  to  be  seen  on 
the  first  afternoon,  and  from  facts  that  afterward  came 
to  light  as  to  the  position  of  the  different  corps  of  Gen 
eral  Meade's  army,  it  seems  certain  that  if  the  Confed 
erates  had  simply  moved  forward,  following  up  the 
advantages  gained  and  striking  the  separated  Union 
commands  in  succession,  the  victory  would  have  been 
Lee's  instead  of  Meade's.1 

I  should  state  here  that  General  Meade's  army  at  that 
hour  was  stretched  out  along  the  line  of  his  march  for 

I 1  give    here  the  numbers    engaged.     The  figures  are   taken  from   the 
highest  authorities : 

FEDERAL. — Return,  June  30,  1863,  effective  infantry  and  artillery  (cav 
alry  not  reported),  Army  of  the  Potomac,  84,158  (Official  Records,  Vol. 
XXVII,  Part  I,  p.  151).  To  which  add  cavalry  (given  by  "Battles  and 
Leaders"  as  13,144),  making  a  total  of  97,302. 

Estimates,  at  the  battle  :  "  Battles  and  Leaders,"  93,500  (Vol.  Ill,  p.  440). 
Doubleday,  82,000  (he  accepts  estimate  of  the  Count  of  Paris).  Boynton, 


156   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

nearly  thirty  miles.  General  Lee's  was  much  more  con 
centrated.  General  Hancock's  statement  of  the  situation 
is  true  and  pertinent :  "  The  rear  of  our  troops  were 
hurrying  through  the  town,  pursued  by  Confederates. 
There  had  been  an  attempt  to  reform  some  of  the 
Eleventh  Corps  as  they  passed  over  Cemetery  Hill,  but 
it  had  not  been  very  successful."  And  yet  I  was  halted ! 
My  thoughts  were  so  harrowed  and  iny  heart  so  bur 
dened  by  the  fatal  mistake  of  the  afternoon  that  I  was 
unable  to  sleep  at  night.  Mounting  my  horse  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  rode  with  one  or  two  staff 
officers  to  the  red  barn  in  which  General  Ewell  and 
General  Early  then  had  their  headquarters.  Much  of 
my  time  after  nightfall  had  been  spent  on  the  front 
picket-line,  listening  to  the  busy  strokes  of  Union  picks 
and  shovels  on  the  hills,  to  the  rumble  of  artillery  wheels 
and  the  tramp  of  fresh  troops  as  they  were  hurried  for 
ward  by  Union  commanders  and  placed  in  position. 
There  was,  therefore,  no  difficulty  in  divining  the  scene 
that  would  break  on  our  view  with  the  coming  dawn. 
I  did  not  hesitate  to  say  to  both  Ewell  and  Early  that  a 
line  of  heavy  earthworks,  with  heavy  guns  and  ranks  of 
infantry  behind  them,  would  frown  upon  us  at  daylight. 
I  expressed  the  opinion  that,  even  at  that  hour,  two 
o'clock,  by  a  concentrated  and  vigorous  night  assault 
we  could  carry  those  heights,  and  that  if  we  waited  till 
morning  it  would  cost  us  10,000  men  to  take  them. 
There  was  a  disposition  to  yield  to  my  suggestions,  but 

87,000.  Meade,  in  testifying  before  Commission  on  Conduct  of  War,  gives 
95,000  (Second  Series,  Vol.  I,  p.  337).  Livermore's  "Numbers  and  Losses 
in  Civil  War,"  83,000  pp.  102,  103). 

CONFEDERATE.— Confederate  returns,  May  31,  1863,  effective  force,  68,352 
(Official  Records,  Vol.  XXV,  Part  I,  pp.  845,  846). 

Estimates,  at  the  battle  :  "  Battles  and  Leaders,"  70,000  (Vol.  IV,  p.  440). 
Doubleday,  73,500  (be  accepts  estimate  of  the  Count  of  Paris).  Boynton, 
80,000.  Taylor's  "Four  Years  with  Lee,"  62,000  (p.  113).  Livermore's 
"Numbers  and  Losses,"  75,054  (pp.  102,  103). 


GETTYSBURG  157 

other  counsels  finally  prevailed.  Those  works  were  never 
carried,  but  the  cost  of  the  assault  upon  them,  the 
appalling  carnage  resulting  from  the  effort  to  take  them, 
far  exceeded  that  which  I  had  ventured  to  predict. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  this  first  day's  battle,  when 
the  firing  had  greatly  decreased  along  most  of  the  lines, 
General  Ewell  and  I  were  riding  through  the  streets  of 
Gettysburg.  In  a  previous  battle  he  had  lost  one  of  his 
legs,  but  prided  himself  on  the  efficiency  of  the  wooden 
one  which  he  used  in  its  place.  As  we  rode  together,  a 
body  of  Union  soldiers,  posted  behind  some  buildings 
and  fences  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  suddenly  opened 
a  brisk  fire.  A  number  of  Confederates  were  killed  or 
wounded,  and  I  heard  the  ominous  thud  of  a  Minie  ball 
as  it  struck  General  Ewell  at  my  side.  I  quickly  asked : 
"Are  you  hurt,  sir!"  "No,  110,"  he  replied;  "I'm  not 
hurt.  But  suppose  that  ball  had  struck  you :  we  would 
have  had  the  trouble  of  carrying  you  off  the  field,  sir. 
You  see  how  much  better  fixed  for  a  fight  I  am  than  you 
are.  It  don't  hurt  a  bit  to  be  shot  in  a  wooden  leg." 

Ewell  was  one  of  the  most  eccentric  characters,  and, 
taking  him  all  in  all,  one  of  the  most  interesting  that  I 
have  ever  known.  It  is  said  that  in  his  early  manhood 
he  had  been  disappointed  in  a  love  affair,  and  had  never 
fully  recovered  from  its  effects.  The  fair  young  woman 
to  whom  he  had  given  his  affections  had  married  another 
man ;  but  Ewell,  like  the  truest  of  knights,  carried  her 
image  in  his  heart  through  long  years.  When  he  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier  or  major-general,  he 
evidenced  the  constancy  of  his  affections  by  placing  upon 
his  staff  the  son  of  the  woman  whom  he  had  loved  in  his 
youth.  The  meddlesome  Fates,  who  seem  to  revel  in  the 
romances  of  lovers,  had  decreed  that  Ewell  should  be 
shot  in  battle  and  become  the  object  of  solicitude  and 
tender  nursing  by  this  lady,  who  had  been  for  many 
years  a  widow— Mrs.  Brown.  Her  gentle  ministrations 


158  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

soothed  his  weary  weeks  of  suffering,  a  marriage  ensued, 
and  with  it  came  the  realization  of  Swell's  long-deferred 
hope.  It  was  most  interesting  to  note  the  change  that 
came  over  the  spirit  of  this  formerly  irascible  old  bach 
elor.  He  no  longer  sympathized  with  General  Early, 
who,  like  himself,  was  known  to  be  more  intolerant  of 
soldiers'  wives  than  the  crusty  French  marshal  who  pro 
nounced  them  the  most  inconvenient  sort  of  baggage  for 
a  soldier  to  own.  Ewell  had  become  a  husband,  and 
was  sincerely  devoted  to  Mrs,  Ewell.  He  never  seemed 
to  realize,  however,  that  her  marriage  to  him  had  changed 
her  name,  for  he  proudly  presented  her  to  his  friends  as 
"  My  wife,  Mrs.  Brown,  sir." 

Whatever  differences  of  opinion  may  now  or  here 
after  exist  as  to  the  results  which  might  have  fol 
lowed  a  defeat  of  the  Union  arms  at  Gettysburg, 
there  is  universal  concurrence  in  the  judgment  that 
this  battle  was  the  turning-point  in  the  South's  for 
tunes.  The  point  where  Pickett's  Virginians,  under 
Kemper,  Garnett,  and  Armistead,  in  their  immortal 
charge,  swept  over  the  rock  wall,  has  been  appropri 
ately  designated  by  the  Government  as  "the  high- water 
mark  of  the  Rebellion."  To  the  Union  commander, 
General  George  Gordon  Meade,  history  will  accord  the 
honor  of  having  handled  his  army  at  Gettysburg  with 
unquestioned  ability.  The  record  and  the  results  of  the 
battle  entitle  him  to  a  high  place  among  Union  leaders. 
To  him  and  to  his  able  subordinates  and  heroic  men  is 
due  the  credit  of  having  successfully  met  and  repelled 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  in  the  meridian  of  its 
hope  and  confidence  and  power.  This  much  seems 
secure  to  him,  whether  his  failure  vigorously  to  follow 
General  Lee  and  force  him  to  another  battle  is  justified 
or  condemned  by  the  military  critics  of  the  future. 
General  Meade's  army  halted,  it  is  true,  after  having 
achieved  a  victory.  The  victory,  however,  was  not  of 


GETTYSBURG  159 

so  decisive  a  character  as  to  demoralize  Lee's  forces. 
The  great  Bonaparte  said  that  bad  as  might  be  the  con 
dition  of  a  victorious  army  after  battle,  it  was  invariably 
true  that  the  condition  of  the  defeated  army  was  still 
worse.  If,  however,  any  successful  commander  was 
ever  justified  in  disregarding  this  truism  of  Bonaparte's, 
General  Meade  was  that  commander ;  for  a  considerable 
portion  of  Lee's  army,  probably  one  third  of  it,  was  still 
in  excellent  fighting  trim,  and  nearly  every  man  in  it 
would  have  responded  with  alacrity  to  Lee's  call  to  form 
a  defensive  line  and  deliver  battle. 

It  was  my  pleasure  to  know  General  Meade  well  after 
the  war,  when  he  was  the  Department  Commander  or 
Military  Governor  of  Georgia.  An  incident  at  a  banquet 
in  the  city  of  Atlanta  illustrates  his  high  personal  and 
soldierly  characteristics.  The  first  toast  of  the  evening 
was  to  General  Meade  as  the  honored  guest.  When  this 
toast  had  been  drunk,  my  health  was  proposed.  There 
upon,  objection  was  made  upon  the  ground  that  it  was 
"  too  soon  after  the  war  to  be  drinking  the  health  of  a 
man  who  had  been  fighting  for  four  years  in  the  Rebel 
army."  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  this  remark 
came  from  one  who  did  no  fighting  in  either  army.  He 
belonged  to  that  curious  class  of  soldiers  who  were  as 
valiant  in  peace  as  they  were  docile  in  war ;  whose  de 
fiance  of  danger  became  dazzling  after  the  danger  was 
past.  General  Meade  belonged  to  the  other  class  of 
soldiers,  who  fought  as  long  as  fighting  was  in  order, 
and  was  ready  for  peace  when  there  was  no  longer  any 
foe  in  the  field.  This  chivalric  chieftain  of  the  Union 
forces  at  Gettysburg  was  far  more  indignant  at  the 
speech  of  the  bomb-proof  warrior  than  I  was  myself. 
The  moment  the  objection  to  drinking  my  health  was 
suggested,  General  Meade  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  with  a 
compliment  to  myself  which  I  shall  not  be  expected  to 
repeat,  and  a  rebuke  to  the  objector,  he  held  high  his 


160  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE    CIVIL  WAR 

glass  and  said,  with  significant  emphasis :  "  I  propose  to 
drink,  and  drink  now,  to  my  former  foe,  but  now  my 
friend,  G-eneral  Gordon,  of  Georgia." 

It  will  not  be  expected  that  any  considerable  space  be 
devoted  to  the  unseemly  controversy  over  those  brilliant 
but  disastrous  Confederate  charges  which  lost  the  day 
at  Gettysburg.  I  could  scarcely  throw  upon  the  subject 
any  additional  light  nor  bring  to  its  elucidation  any  ma 
terial  testimony  not  already  adduced  by  those  who  have 
written  on  the  one  side  or  the  other.  A  sense  of  justice, 
however,  to  say  nothing  of  loyalty  to  Lee's  memory,  im 
pels  me  to  submit  one  observation ;  and  I  confidently 
affirm  that  nearly  every  soldier  who  fought  under  him 
will  sympathize  with  the  suggestions  It  is  this:  that 
nothing  that  occurred  at  Gettysburg,  nor  anything  that 
has  been  written  since  of  that  battle,  has  lessened  the 
conviction  that,  had  Lee's  orders  been  promptly  and 
cordially  executed,  Meade's  centre  on  the  third  day  would 
have  been  penetrated  and  the  Union  army  overwhelm 
ingly  defeated.  Lee's  hold  upon  the  confidence  of  his 
army  was  absolute.  The  repulse  at  Gettysburg  did  not 
shake  it.  I  recall  no  instance  in  history  where  a  defeated 
army  retained  in  its  retreating  commander  a  faith  so 
complete,  and  gave  to  him  subsequent  support  so  enthu 
siastic  and  universal. 

General  Longstreet  is  undoubtedly  among  the  great 
American  soldiers  who  attained  distinction  in  our  Civil 
War ;  and  to  myself,  and,  I  am  sure,  to  a  large  majority 
of  the  Southern  people,  it  is  a  source  of  profound  regret 
that  he  and  his  friends  should  have  been  brought  into 
such  unprofitable  and  ill-tempered  controversy  with  the 
friends  of  his  immortal  chieftain.1 

1  It  now  seems  certain  that  impartial  military  critics,  after  thorough  in 
vestigation,  will  consider  the  following  as  established  : 

1.  That  General  Lee  distinctly  ordered  Longstreet  to  attack  early  the 
morning  of  the  second  day,  and  if  he  had  done  so,  two  of  the  largest  corps 


GETTYSBURG  161 

A  third  of  a  century  has  passed  since,  with  Lee's 
stricken  but  still  puissant  army,  I  turned  my  back  upon 
the  field  of  Gettysburg,  on  which  nearly  40,000  Americans 
went  down,  dead  or  wounded,  at  the  hands  of  fellow- 
Americans.  The  commanders-in-chief  and  nearly  all  the 
great  actors  upon  it  are  dead.  Of  the  heroes  who  fought 
there  and  survived  the  conflict,  a  large  portion  have  since 
joined  the  ranks  of  those  who  fell.  A  new  generation 
has  taken  their  places  since  the  battle's  roar  was  hushed, 
but  its  thunders  are  still  reverberating  through  my 
memory.  No  tongue,  nor  pen,  can  adequately  portray 
its  vacillating  fortunes  at  each  dreadful  moment.  As  I 
write  of  it  now,  a  myriad  thrilling  incidents  and  rapidly 
changing  scenes,  now  appalling  and  now  inspiring,  rush 
over  my  memory.  I  hear  again  the  words  of  Barlow: 
"Tell  my  wife  that  I  freely  gave  my  life  for  my  country." 
Yonder,  resting  on  his  elbow,  I  see  the  gallant  young 
A  very  in  his  bloody  gray  uniform  among  his  brave 
North  Carolinians,  writing,  as  he  dies :  "  Tell  father  that 
I  fell  with  my  face  to  the  foe."  On  the  opposite  hills, 
Lee  and  Meade,  surrounded  by  staff  and  couriers  and 

of  Meade's  army  would  not  have  been  in  the  fight ;  but  Longstreet  delayed 
the  attack  until  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  thus  lost  his  opportunity 
of  occupying  Little  Round  Top,  the  key  to  the  position,  which  he  might 
have  done  in  the  morning  without  firing  a  shot  or  losing  a  man. 

2.  That  General  Lee  ordered    Longstreet  to  attack  at  daybreak  on  the 
morning  of  the  third  day,  and  that  he  did  not  attack  until  two  or  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  artillery  opening  at  one. 

3.  That    General   Lee,   according   to   the   testimony  of   Colonel   Walter 
Taylor,  Colonel  C.  S.  Venable,  and  General  A.  L.  Long,  who  were  present 
when  the  order  was  given,  ordered  Longstreet  to  make  the  attack  on  the 
last  day,  with  the  three  divisions  of  his  corps,  and  two  divisions  of  A.  P. 
Hill's  corps,  and  that  instead  of  doing  so  he  sent  fourteen  thousand  men  to 
assail  Meade's  army  in  his  strong  position,  and  heavily  intrenched. 

4.  That  the  great  mistake  of  the  halt  on  the  first  day  would  have  been 
repaired  on  the  second,  and  even  on  the  third  day,  if  Lee's  orders  had  been 
vigorously  executed,  and  that  General  Lee  died  believing  (the  testimony  on 
this  point  is  overwhelming)  that  he  lost  Gettysburg  at  last  by  Longstreet's 
disobedience  of  orders. 


162  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

with  glasses  in  hand,  are  surveying  the  intervening 
space.  Over  it  the  flying  shells  are  plunging,  shrieking, 
bursting.  The  battered  Confederate  line  staggers,  reels, 
and  is  bent  back  before  the  furious  blast.  The  alert 
Federals  leap  from  the  trenches  and  over  the  walls  and 
rush  through  this  thin  and  wavering  line.  Instantly, 
from  the  opposite  direction,  with  deafening  yells,  come 
the  Confederates  in  countercharge,  and  the  brave  Fed 
erals  are  pressed  back  to  the  walls.  The  Confederate 
banners  sweep  through  the  riddled  peach  orchard ;  while 
farther  to  the  Union  left  on  the  gory  wheat-field  the  im 
pacted  forces  are  locked  in  deadly  embrace.  Across  this 
field  in  alternate  waves  rolls  the  battle's  tide,  now  from 
the  one  side,  now  from  the  other,  until  the  ruthless 
Harvester  piles  his  heaps  of  slain  thicker  than  the  grain 
shocks  gathered  by  the  husbandman's  scythe.  Hard  by 
is  Devil's  Den.  Around  it  and  over  it  the  deadly  din  of 
battle  roars.  The  rattle  of  rifles,  the  crash  of  shells,  the 
shouts  of  the  living  and  groans  of  the  dying,  convert 
that  dark  woodland  into  a  harrowing  pandemonium. 
Farther  to  the  Union  left,  Hood,  with  his  stalwart  Texans, 
is  climbing  the  Round  Tops.  For  a  moment  he  halts  to 
shelter  them  behind  the  great  boulders.  A  brief  pause 
for  rest,  and  to  his  command,  "  Forward ! "  they  mount 
the  huge  rocks  reddened  with  blood— and  Hood's  own 
blood  is  soon  added.  He  falls  seriously  wounded ;  but  his 
intrepid  Alabamians  under  Law  press  forward.  The  fiery 
brigades  of  McLaws  move  to  his  aid.  The  fiercest  strug 
gle  is  now  for  the  possession  of  Little  Round  Top.  Stand 
ing  on  its  rugged  summit  like  a  lone  sentinel  is  seen  an 
erect  but  slender  form  clad  in  the  uniform  of  a  Union 
officer.  It  is  Warren,  Meade's  chief  of  engineers.  With 
practised  eye,  he  sees  at  a  glance  that,  quickly  seized, 
that  rock-ribbed  hill  would  prove  a  Gibraltar  amidst  the 
whirling  currents  of  the  battle,  resisting  its  heaviest 
shocks.  Staff  and  couriers  are  summoned,  who  swiftly 


GETTYSBURG  163 

bear  his  messages  to  the  Union  leaders.  Veterans  from 
Hancock  and  Sykes  respond  at  a  "  double-quick."  Around 
its  base,  along  its  sides,  and  away  toward  the  Union  right, 
with  the  forces  of  Sickles  and  Hancock,  the  gray  veterans 
of  Longstreet  are  in  herculean  wrestle.  Wilcox's  Ala- 
bamians  and  Barksdale's  Mississippians  seize  a  Union 
battery  and  rush  on.  The  Union  lines  under  Humphreys 
break  through  a  Confederate  gap  and  sweep  around 
Barksdale's  left.  Wright's  Georgians  and  Perry's  Flo- 
ridians  are  hurled  against  Humphreys  and  break  him  in 
turn.  Amidst  the  smoke  and  fury,  Sickles  with  thigh 
bone  shivered,  sickens  and  falls  from  his  saddle  into 
the  arms  of  his  soldiers.  Sixty  per  cent,  of  Hancock's 
veterans  go  down  with  his  gallant  Brigadiers  Willard, 
Zook,  Cross,  and  Brooke.  The  impetuous  Confederate 
leaders,  Barksdale  and  Semmes,  fall  and  die,  but  their 
places  are  quickly  assumed  by  the  next  in  command. 
The  Union  forces  of  Vincent  and  Weed,  with  Hazlett's 
artillery,  have  reached  the  summit,  but  all  three  are  killed. 
The  apex  of  Little  Round  Top  is  the  point  of  deadliest 
struggle.  The  day  ends,  and  thus  ends  the  battle.  As 
the  last  rays  of  the  setting  sun  fall  upon  the  summit, 
they  are  reflected  from  the  batteries  and  bayonets  of  the 
Union  soldiers  still  upon  it,  with  the  bleeding  Confed 
erates  struggling  to  possess  it.  The  embattled  hosts  sleep 
upon  their  arms.  The  stars  look  down  at  night  upon 
a  harrowing  scene  of  pale  faces  all  over  the  field,  and 
of  sufferers  in  the  hospitals  behind  the  lines — an  army 
of  dead  and  wounded  numbering  over  twenty  thousand. 

The  third  day's  struggle  was  the  bloody  postscript  to 
the  battle  of  the  first  and  second.  There  was  a  pause. 
Night  had  intervened.  It  was  only  a  pause  for  breath. 
Of  sleep  there  was  little  for  the  soldiers,  perhaps  none 
for  the  throbbing  brains  of  the  great  chieftains.  Vic 
tory  to  Lee  meant  Southern  independence.  Victory  to 


164  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

Meade  meant  an  inseparable  Union.  The  life  of  the 
Confederacy,  the  unity  of  the  Republic  —  these  were 
the  stakes  of  July  3.  Meade  decided  to  defend;  Lee 
resolved  to  assault.  The  decisive  blow  at  Meade's 
left  centre  was  planned  for  the  early  morning.  The 
morning  came  and  the  morning  passed.  The  Union 
right,  impatient  at  the  Confederate  delay,  opens  fire  on 
Lee's  left.  The  challenge  is  answered  by  a  Confederate 
charge  under  Edward  Johnson.  The  Union  trenches 
are  carried.  Ruger's  Union  lines  sweep  down  from  the 
heights  on  Johnson's  left  and  recover  these  trenches. 
High  noon  is  reached,  but  the  assault  on  the  left  centre 
is  still  undelivered.  With  every  moment  of  delay,  Lee's 
chances  are  diminishing  with  geometrical  progression. 
At  last  the  heavy  signal-guns  break  the  fatal  silence 
and  summon  the  gray  lines  of  infantry  to  the  charge. 
Pickett's  Virginians  are  leading.  The  tired  veterans  of 
Heth  and  Wilcox  and  Pettigrew  move  with  them.  Down 
the  long  slope  and  up  the  next  the  majestic  column 
sweeps.  With  Napoleonic  skill,  Meade's  artillerists  turn 
the  converging,  galling  fire  of  all  adjacent  batteries  upon 
the  advancing  Confederates.  The  heavy  Southern  guns 
hurl  their  solid  shot  and  shell  above  the  Southern  lines 
and  into  the  Union  ranks  on  the  summit.  The  air 
quivers  and  the  hills  tremble.  Onward,  still  onward, 
the  Southern  legions  press.  Through  a  tempest  of  in 
describable  fury  they  rush  toward  the  crest  held  by  the 
compact  Union  lines.  The  Confederate  leaders,  Gar- 
nett,  Trimble,  and  Keniper,  fall  in  the  storm  —  the  first 
dead,  the  others  down  and  disabled.  On  the  Union 
side,  Hancock  and  Gibbon  are  borne  bleeding  to  the 
rear.  Still  onward  press  the  men  in  gray,  their  ranks 
growing  thinner,  their  lines  shorter,  as  the  living  press 
toward  the  centre  to  fill  the  great  gaps  left  by  the  dead. 
Nearly  every  mounted  officer  goes  down.  Riderless 
horses  are  flying  hither  and  thither.  Above  the  battle's 


GETTYSBURG  165 

roar  is  heard  the  familiar  Southern  yell  It  proclaims 
fresh  hope,  but  false  hope.  Union  batteries  are  seen 
to  limber  up,  and  the  galloping  horses  carry  them  to 
the  rear.  The  Confederate  shout  is  evoked  by  a  mis 
apprehension.  These  guns  are  not  disabled.  They  do 
not  fly  before  the  Confederate  lines  from  fear  of  capture. 
It  is  simply  to  cool  their  heated  throats.  Into  their 
places  quickly  wheel  the  fresh  Union  guns.  Like  burn 
ing  lava  from  volcanic  vents,  they  pour  a  ceaseless 
current  of  fire  into  the  now  thin  Confederate  ranks. 
The  Southern  left  is  torn  to  fragments.  Quickly  the 
brilliant  Alexander,  his  ammunition  almost  exhausted, 
flies  at  a  furious  gallop  with  his  batteries  to  the  support 
of  the  dissolving  Confederate  infantry.  Here  and  there 
his  horses  and  riders  go  down  and  check  his  artillery's 
progress.  His  brave  gunners  cut  loose  the  dead  horses, 
seize  the  wheels,  whirl  the  guns  into  position,  and  pour 
the  hot  grape  and  canister  into  the  faces  of  the  Federals. 
The  Confederates  rally  under  the  impulse,  and  rush 
onward.  At  one  instant  their  gray  jackets  and  flashing 
bayonets  are  plainly  seen  in  the  July  sun.  At  the  next 
they  disappear,  hidden  from  view  as  the  hundreds  of 
belching  cannon  conceal  and  envelop  them  in  sulphur 
ous  smoke.  The  brisk  west  wind  lifts  and  drives  the 
smoke  from  the  field,  revealing  the  Confederate  banners 
close  to  the  rock  wall.  Will  they  go  over  ?  Look ! 
They  are  over  and  in  the  Union  lines.  The  left  centre 
is  pierced,  but  there  is  no  Union  panic,  no  general  flight. 
The  Confederate  battle-flags  and  the  Union  banners  are 
floating  side  by  side.  Face  to  face,  breast  to  breast,  are 
the  hostile  hosts.  The  heavy  guns  are  silent.  The 
roar  of  artillery  has  given  place  to  the  rattle  of  rifles  and 
crack  of  pistol-shots,  as  the  officers  draw  their  side 
arms.  The  awful  din  and  confusion  of  close  combat  is 
heard,  as  men  batter  and  brain  each  other  with  clubbed 
muskets.  The  brave  young  Pennsylvanian,  Lieutenant 


166   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

Cushing,  shot  in  both  thighs,  still  stands  by  his  guns, 
The  Confederates  seize  them;  but  he  surrenders  them 
only  with  his  life.  One  Southern  leader  is  left;  it  is 
the  heroic  Armistead.  He  calls  around  him  the  shat 
tered  Southern  remnants.  Lifting  his  hat  on  the  point 
of  his  sword,  he  orders  "  Forward !  "  on  the  second  line, 
and  falls  mortally  wounded  amidst  the  culminating  fury 
of  Gettysburg's  fires. 

The  collision  had  shaken  the  continent.  For  three 
days  the  tumult  and  roar  around  Cemetery  Heights  and 
the  Round  Tops  seemed  the  echo  of  the  internal  com 
motion  which  ages  before  had  heaved  these  hills  above 
the  surrounding  plain. 

It  is  a  great  loss  to  history  and  to  posterity  that  Gen 
eral  Lee  did  not  write  his  own  recollections  as  General 
Grant  did.  It  was  his  fixed  purpose  to  do  so  for 
some  years  after  the  war  ended.  From  correspondence 
and  personal  interviews  with  him,  I  know  that  he  was 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  write,  and  he  expended  much  time  and  labor  in 
getting  the  material  for  such  a  work.  From  his  re 
ports,  which  are  models  of  official  papers,  were  neces 
sarily  excluded  the  free  and  full  comments  upon  plans, 
movements,  men,  failures,  and  the  reasons  for  such 
failures,  as  they  appeared  to  him,  and  of  which  he  was 
the  most  competent  witness.  To  those  who  knew  Gen 
eral  Lee  well,  and  who  added  to  this  knowledge  a  just 
appreciation  of  his  generous  nature,  the  assumption  by 
him  of  entire  responsibility  for  the  failure  at  Gettysburg 
means  nothing  except  an  additional  and  overwhelming 
proof  of  his  almost  marvellous  magnanimity.  He  was 
commander-in-chief,  and  as  such  and  in  that  sense  he 
was  responsible ;  but  in  that  sense  he  was  also  respon 
sible  for  every  act  of  every  officer  and  every  soldier  in 
his  army.  This,  however,  is  not  the  kind  of  response 


GETTYSBURG  167 

bility  under  discussion.  This  is  not  the  standard  which 
history  will  erect  and  by  which  he  will  be  judged.  If 
by  reason  of  repeated  mistakes  or  blunders  he  had  lost 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  army,  and  for  this 
cause  could  no  longer  command  its  cordial  and  enthusi 
astic  support,  this  fact  would  fix  his  responsibility  for 
the  failure.  But  no  such  conditions  appertained.  As 
already  stated,  the  confidence  in  him  before  and  after 
the  battle  was  boundless.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  never 
more  firmly  held  the  faith  of  Frenchmen,  when  thrones 
were  trembling  before  him,  than  did  Lee  hold  the  faith 
of  his  devoted  followers,  amidst  the  gloom  of  his  heav 
iest  disasters. 

If  his  plan  of  battle  was  faulty,  then  for  this  he  is 
responsible;  but  if  his  general  plan  promised  success, 
and  if  there  was  a  lack  of  cheerful,  prompt,  and  intelli 
gent  cooperation  in  its  execution,  or  if  there  were  delays 
that  General  Lee  could  not  foresee  nor  provide  against, 
and  which  delays  or  lack  of  cooperation  enabled  Gen 
eral  Meade  to  concentrate  his  reserves  behind  the  point 
of  contemplated  attack,  then  the  responsibility  is  shifted 
to  other  shoulders. 

There  was  nothing  new  or  especially  remarkable  in 
General  Lee's  plans.  Novelties  in  warfare  are  confined 
rather  to  its  implements  than  to  the  methods  of  deliver 
ing  battle.  To  Hannibal  and  Ca3sar,  to  Frederick  and 
Napoleon,  to  Grant  and  Lee,  to  all  great  soldiers,  the 
plan  was  familiar.  It  was  to  assault  along  the  entire 
line  and  hold  the  enemy  to  hard  work  on  the  wings, 
while  the  artillery  and  heaviest  impact  of  infantry  pene 
trated  the  left  centre.  Cooperation  by  every  part  of  his 
army  was  expected  and  essential.  However  well  trained 
and  strong  may  be  the  individual  horses  in  a  team,  they 
will  never  move  the  stalled  wagon  when  one  pulls  for 
ward  while  the  other  holds  back.  They  must  all  pull 
together,  or  the  heavily  loaded  wagon  will  never  be  car- 


168  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

ried  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  Such  cooperation  at  Gettys 
burg  was  only  partial,  and  limited  to  comparatively  small 
forces.  Pressure— hard,  general,  and  constant  pressure— 
upon  Headers  right  would  have  called  him  to  its  defence 
and  weakened  his  centre.  That  pressure  was  only  spas 
modic  and  of  short  duration.  Lee  and  his  plan  could 
only  promise  success  on  the  proviso  that  the  movement 
was  both  general  and  prompt.  It  was  neither.  Moments 
in  battle  are  pregnant  with  the  fate  of  armies.  When  the 
opportune  moment  to  strike  arrives,  the  blow  must  fall ; 
for  the  next  instant  it  may  be  futile.  Not  only  moments, 
but  hours,  of  delay  occurred.  I  am  criticising  officers  for 
the  lack  of  complete  cooperation,  not  for  unavoidable 
delays.  I  am  simply  stating  facts  which  must  necessarily 
affect  the  verdict  of  history.  Had  all  the  commands 
designated  by  General  Lee  cooperated  by  a  simultaneous 
assault,  thus  preventing  Meade  from  grouping  his  troops 
around  his  centre,  and  had  the  onset  upon  that  centre 
occurred  in  the  early  morning,  as  intended  by  Lee,  it 
requires  no  partiality  to  see  that  this  great  commander's 
object  would  have  been  assuredly  achieved.  That  the 
plan  involved  hazard  is  undoubtedly  true.  All  battles 
between  such  troops  as  confronted  each  other  at  Gettys 
burg  are  hazardous  and  uncertain.  If  the  commanders 
of  the  Confederate  and  Union  armies  had  waited  for 
opportunities  free  of  hazard  and  uncertainty,  no  great 
battle  would  have  been  fought  and  the  war  never  would 
have  ended.  The  question  which  history  will  ask  is  this : 
Was  General  Lee  justified  in  expecting  success?  The 
answer  will  be  that,  with  his  experience  in  meeting  the 
same  Union  army  at  Fredericksburg,  at  the  second 
Manassas,  in  the  seven-days'  battles  around  Richmond, 
and  at  Chanced  lor  sville ;  with  an  army  behind  him  which 
he  believed  well-nigh  invincible,  and  which  army  believed 
its  commander  well-nigh  infallible ;  with  a  victory  for  his 
troops  on  the  first  day  at  Gettysburg,  the  completeness 


GETTYSBURG  169 

of  which  had  been  spoiled  only  by  an  untimely  and  fatal 
halt ;  with  the  second  day's  battle  ending  with  alternate 
successes  and  indecisive  results ;  and  with  the  expecta 
tion  of  prompt  action  and  vigorous  united  cooperation, 
he  was  abundantly  justified  in  confidently  expecting 
success. 

Wellington  at  Waterloo  and  Meade  at  Gettysburg,  each 
held  the  highlands  against  his  antagonist.  Wellington 
on  Mont- Saint- Jean,  and  Meade  on  Cemetery  Ridge,  had 
the  bird's-eye  view  of  the  forces  of  attack.  The  English 
batteries  on  the  plateau  and  the  Union  batteries  on  Cem 
etery  Heights  commanded  alike  the  intervening  undula 
tions  across  which  the  charging  columns  must  advance. 
Behind  Mont-Saint-Jean,  to  conceal  Wellington's  move 
ments  from  Napoleon's  eye,  were  the  woodlands  of 
Soignies.  Behind  Cemetery  Ridge,  to  conceal  Meade's 
movements  from  the  field-glasses  of  Lee,  was  a  sharp 
declivity,  a  protecting  and  helpful  depression.  As  the 
French  under  Napoleon  at  Waterloo,  so  the  Confederates 
under  Lee  at  Gettysburg,  held  the  weaker  position.  In 
both  cases  the  assailants  sought  to  expel  their  opponents 
from  the  stronger  lines.  I  might  add  another  resem 
blance  in  the  results  which  followed.  Waterloo  decreed 
the  destiny  of  France,  of  England,  of  Europe.  Gettys 
burg,  not  so  directly  or  immediately,  but  practically, 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Confederacy. 

There  were  points  of  vast  divergence.  The  armies 
which  met  at  Waterloo  were  practically  equal.  This  was 
not  true  of  the  armies  that  met  at  Gettysburg.1  Napo 
leon's  artillery  far  exceeded  that  of  Wellington.  Lee's 
was  far  inferior  to  Meade's,  in  the  metal  from  which  the 

1  General  Lee's  army  at  Gettysburg,  according  to  most  reliable  estimates 
[see  note,  pp.  155  and  156],  was  about  60,000  or  62,000 ;  General  Meade's  is 
placed  by  different  authorities  at  figures  ranging  from  82,000  to  105,000. 
Appleton's  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography  places  the  numbers  of  Lee  at 
69,000  and  Meade's  between  82,000  and  84,000. 


170    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

guns  were  moulded,  as  well  as  in  number.  Waterloo  was 
a  rout,  Gettysburg  a  repulse.  Napoleon,  in  the  ensuing 
panic,  was  a  deserted  fugitive.  Lee  rode  amidst  his 
broken  lines  calmly  majestic,  the  idol  of  his  followers. 
With  no  trace  of  sympathy  for  Napoleon's  selfish  aims, 
with  righteous  condemnation  of  his  vaulting  ambition, 
one  cannot  fail  to  realize  the  profound  pathos  of  his 
position  on  that  dismal  night  of  wildest  panic  and  lonely 
flight.  Abandoned  by  fortune,  deserted  by  his  army, 
discrowned  and  doomed,  he  is  described  by  Hugo  as  hav 
ing  not  an  organized  company  to  comfort  him,  not  even  his 
faithful  Old  Guard  to  rally  around  him.  In  Lee's  army 
there  was  neither  panic  nor  precipitate  retreat.  There 
was  no  desertion  of  the  great  commander.  Around  him 
still  stood  his  heroic  legions,  with  confidence  in  him  un 
shaken,  love  for  him  unabated,  ready  to  follow  his  lead 
and  to  fight  under  his  orders  to  the  last  extremity. 

General  Meade  evidently,  perhaps  naturally,  expected 
far  greater  confusion  and  disorganization  in  Lee's  army, 
from  the  terrific  repulse  to  which  it  had  been  subjected. 
He  wisely  threw  his  cavalry  upon  Lee's  flank  in  order 
to  sweep  down  upon  the  rear  and  cut  to  pieces  or  cap 
ture  the  fragments  of  Southern  infantry,  in  case  of  gen 
eral  retreat  or  demoralization.  As  the  Union  bugles 
sounded  the  charge,  however,  for  the  gallant  horsemen 
under  Farnsworth,  Lee's  right  was  ready  to  receive  them. 
Proudly  they  rode,  but  promptly  were  they  repulsed. 
Many  saddles  were  emptied  by  Confederate  bullets.  The 
intrepid  commander,  General  Farnsworth  himself,  lost 
his  life  in  the  charge.  On  the  other  flank,  and  with  similar 
design,  Lee  had  placed  Stuart  with  his  dashing  Confed 
erate  riders.  Stuart  was  to  attack  when  Lee's  infantry 
had  pierced  Meade's  centre,  and  when  the  Union  army 
was  cut  in  twain  arid  in  rapid  retreat.  This  occasion 
never  came  to  Stuart,  but  he  found  all  the  opportunity 
he  could  reasonably  desire  for  the  exercise  of  his  men 


GETTYSBURG  171 

and  horses  in  a  furious  combat  with  Gregg's  five  thousand 
Union  troopers. 

The  introduction  of  gunpowder  and  bullets  and  of 
long-range  repeating  rifles  has,  in  modern  warfare, 
greatly  lessened  the  effectiveness  of  cavalry  in  general 
battle  with  infantry,  and  deprived  that  great  arm  of  the 
service  of  the  terror  which  its  charges  once  inspired. 
In  wars  of  the  early  centuries,  the  swift  horsemen  rode 
down  the  comparatively  helpless  infantry  and  trampled 
its  ranks  under  the  horses'  feet.  For  ages  after  the 
dismemberment  of  the  Roman  Empire,  it  was  the 
vast  bodies  of  cavalry  that  checked  and  changed  the 
currents  of  battles  and  settled  the  fate  of  armies  and 
empires.  This  is  not  true  now  —  can  never  be  true 
again ;  but  a  cavalry  charge,  met  by  a  countercharge  of 
cavalry,  is  still,  perhaps,  the  most  terrible  spectacle  wit 
nessed  in  war.  If  the  reader  has  never  seen  such  a 
charge,  he  can  form  little  conception  of  its  awe-inspiring 
fury.  Imagine  yourself  looking  down  from  Gettys 
burg's  heights  upon  the  open,  wide-spreading  plain 
below,  where  five  thousand  horses  are  marshalled  in 
battle  line.  Standing  beside  them  are  five  thousand 
riders,  armed,  booted  and  spurred,  and  ready  to  mount. 
The  bugles  sound  the  "  Mount !  "  and  instantly  five 
thousand  plumes  rise  above  the  horses  as  the  riders 
spring  into  their  saddles.  In  front  of  the  respective 
squadrons  the  daring  leaders  take  their  places.  The 
fluttering  pennants  or  streaming  guidons,  ten  to  each 
regiment,  mark  the  left  of  the  companies.  On  the  op 
posite  slope  of  the  same  plain  are  five  thousand  hostile 
horsemen  clad  in  different  uniforms,  ready  to  meet 
these  in  countercharge.  Under  those  ten  thousand 
horses  are  their  hoofs,  iron-shod  and  pitiless,  beneath 
whose  furious  tread  the  plain  is  soon  to  quiver.  Again 
on  each  slope  of  the  open  field  the  bugles  sound.  Ten 
thousand  sabres  leap  from  scabbards  and  glisten  in  the 


172  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

sun.  The  trained  horses  chafe  their  restraining  bits, 
and,  as  the  bugle  notes  sound  the  charge,  their  nostrils 
dilate  and  their  flanks  swell  in  sympathetic  impulse 
with  the  dashing  riders.  "  Forward !  "  shouts  the  com 
mander.  Down  the  lines  and  through  the  columns  in 
quick  succession  ring  the  echoing  commands, "  Forward, 
forward !  "  As  this  order  thrills  through  eager  ears, 
sabres  flash  and  spurs  are  planted  in  palpitating  flanks. 
The  madly  flying  horses  thunder  across  the  trembling 
field,  filling  the  air  with  clouds  of  dust  and  whizzing 
pebbles.  Their  iron-rimmed  hoofs  in  remorseless  tread 
crush  the  stones  to  powder  and  crash  through  the  flesh 
and  bones  of  hapless  riders  who  chance  to  fall.  As 
front  against  front  these  furious  riders  plunge,  their 
sweeping  sabres  slashing  edge  against  edge,  cutting  a 
way  through  opposing  ranks,  gashing  faces,  breaking 
arms,  and  splitting  heads,  it  is  a  scene  of  wildest  war,  a 
whirling  tempest  of  battle,  short-lived  but  terrible. 

Ewell's  Corps,  of  which  my  command  was  a  part,  was 
the  last  to  leave  Gettysburg,  and  the  only  corps  of 
either  army,  I  believe,  that  forded  the  Potomac. 
Reaching  this  river,  we  found  it  for  the  time  an  impass 
able  barrier  against  our  further  progress  southward. 
The  pontoons  had  been  destroyed.  The  river  was  deep 
and  muddy,  swollen  and  swift.  We  were  leaving 
Pennsylvania  and  the  full  granaries  that  had  fed  us. 
Pennsylvania  was  our  Egypt  whither  we  had  "  gone  to 
buy  corn."  We  regretted  leaving,  although  we  had 
found  far  less  favor  with  the  authorities  of  this  modern 
Egypt  than  had  Joseph  and  his  brethren  with  the  rulers 
of  the  ancient  land  of  abundance. 

The  fording  of  the  Potomac  in  the  dim  starlight  of 
that  13th  of  July  night,  and  early  morning  of  the  14th, 
was  a  spectacular  phase  of  war  so  quaint  and  impres 
sive  as  to  leave  itself  lastingly  daguerreotyped  on  the 


GETTYSBURG  173 

memory.  To  the  giants  in  the  army  the  passage  was 
comparatively  easy,  but  the  short-legged  soldiers  were  a 
source  of  anxiety  to  the  officers  and  of  constant  amuse 
ment  to  their  long-legged  comrades.  With  their  knap 
sacks  high  up  on  their  shoulders,  their  cartridge-boxes 
above  the  knapsacks,  and  their  guns  lifted  still  higher 
to  keep  them  dry,  these  little  heroes  of  the  army  battled 
with  the  current  from  shore  to  shore.  Borne  down 
below  the  line  of  march  by  the  swiftly  rolling  water, 
slipping  and  sliding  in  the  mud  and  slime,  and  stumbling 
over  the  boulders  at  the  bottom,  the  marvel  is  that  none 
were  drowned.  The  irrepressible  spirit  for  fun-making, 
for  jests  and  good-natured  gibes,  was  not  wanting  to 
add  to  the  grotesque  character  of  the  passage.  Let  the 
reader  imagine  himself,  if  he  can,  struggling  to  hold  his 
feet  under  him,  with  the  water  up  to  his  armpits,  and 
some  tall,  stalwart  man  just  behind  him  shouting,  "  Pull 
ahead,  Johnny;  General  Meade  will  help  you  along 
directly  by  turning  loose  a  battery  of  Parrott  guns  on 
you."  Or  another,  in  his  front,  calling  to  him :  "  Run 
here,  little  boy,  and  get  on  my  back,  and  I  '11  carry  you 
over  safely."  Or  still  another,  with  mock  solemnity, 
proposing  to  change  the  name  of  the  corps  to  "  Lee's 
Waders,"  and  this  answered  by  a  counter-proposition  to 
petition  the  Secretary  of  War  to  imitate  old  Frederick 
the  Great  and  organize  a  corps  of  "  Six-footers "  to  do 
this  sort  of  work  for  the  whole  army.  Or  still  another 
offering  congratulations  on  this  opportunity  for  being 
washed,  "  The  first  we  have  had,  boys,  for  weeks,  and 
General  Lee  knows  we  need  it." 

Most  of  our  wounded  and  our  blue-coated  comrades 
who  accompanied  us  as  prisoners  were  shown  greater 
consideration— they  were  ferried  across  in  boats.  The 
only  serious  casualty  connected  with  this  dangerous 
crossing  occurred  at  the  point  least  expected.  From  the 
pontoon-bridge,  which  had  been  repaired,  and  which 


174  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

was  regarded  as  not  only  the  most  comfortable  but  by 
far  the  safest  method  of  transit,  the  horses  and  a  wagon 
loaded  with  sick  and  wounded  were  plunged  into  the 
river.  By  well-directed  effort  they  were  rescued,  not 
one  of  the  men,  I  believe,  being  lost. 

General  Meade  was  deliberate  in  his  pursuit,  if  not 
considerate  in  his  treatment  of  us.  He  had  induced  us 
to  change  our  minds.  Instead  of  visiting  Philadelphia 
on  this  trip,  he  had  persuaded  us  to  return  toward  Rich 
mond.  He  doubtless  thought  that  the  last  day's  fight  at 
Gettysburg  was  fairly  good  work  for  one  campaign,  and 
that  if  he  attempted  to  drive  us  more  rapidly  from 
Pennsylvania,  the  experiment  might  prove  expensive. 
As  previously  intimated,  he  was  probably  correct  in  this 
opinion.  Had  he  left  his  strong  position  while  Lee  stood 
waiting  for  him  to  come  out  on  the  Fourth  of  July  at  Get 
tysburg  and  to  assume  the  offensive,  the  chances  are  at 
least  even  that  his  assault  would  have  been  repelled  and 
might  have  led  to  a  Union  disaster.  One  of  the  wisest 
adages  in  war  is  to  avoid  doing  what  your  antagonist 
desires,  and  it  is  beyond  dispute  that,  from  General  Lee 
down  through  all  the  grades,  even  to  the  heroic  privates 
in  the  ranks,  there  was  a  readiness  if  not  a  desire  to 
meet  General  Meade  should  he  advance  upon  us.  Meade's 
policy  after  the  Confederate  repulse  at  Gettysburg  did 
not  differ  materially  from  that  of  Lee  after  the  Union 
repulse  at  Fredericksburg.  General  Halleck,  as  he  sur 
veyed  the  situation  from  Washington,  did  not  like  Gen 
eral  Meade's  deliberation  and  pelted  him  with  telegrams 
extremely  nettling  to  that  proud  soldier's  sensibilities. 
In  the  citadel  of  the  War  Office  at  Washington,  General 
Halleck  could  scarcely  catch  so  clear  a  view  of  the  situa 
tion  as  could  General  Meade  from  the  bloody  and  shiv 
ered  rocks  of  the  Round  Tops.  No  one  doubts  General 
Halleck's  ability  or  verbal  impetuosity.  To  Southern 
apprehension,  however,  there  was  far  more  serious  work 


GETTYSBURG  175 

to  be  expected  from  the  silent  Grant  and  the  undemon 
strative  Meade  than  from  the  explosive  Halleck  or  ful 
minating  Pope. 

It  is  one  of  the  curious  coincidences  of  the  war  that 
the  results  at  Gettysburg  furnished  the  occasion  for  the 
tender  of  resignation  by  each  of  the  commanders-in-chief . 
Lee  offered  to  resign  because  he  had  not  satisfied  him 
self  ;  Meade  because  he  had  not  satisfied  his  Government. 
Lee  feared  discontent  among  his  people;  Meade  found 
it  with  General  Halleck.  Relief  from  command  was  de 
nied  to  Lee ;  it  was  granted  at  last  to  Meade. 

It  would  have  been  a  fatal  mistake,  a  blunder,  to 
have  accepted  General  Lee's  resignation.  There  was  no 
other  man  who  could  have  filled  his  place  in  the  confi 
dence,  veneration,  and  love  of  his  army.  His  relief  from 
command  in  Virginia  would  have  brought  greater  dis 
satisfaction,  if  not  greater  disaster,  than  did  the  re 
moval  from  command  of  General  Joseph  E.  John 
ston  in  Georgia.  The  Continental  Congress  might 
as  safely  have  dispensed  with  the  services  of  Wash 
ington  as  could  the  Confederacy  with  those  of  Lee. 
Looking  back  now  over  the  records  of  that  Titanic 
sectional  struggle  in  the  light  of  Lee's  repeated  suc 
cesses  prior  to  the  Gettysburg  battle  and  of  his  pro 
longed  resistance  in  1864-65,  with  depleted  ranks  and 
exhausted  resources,  how  strangely  sounds  the  story 
of  his  self-abnegation  and  desire  to  turn  over  his  army 
to  some  "  younger  and  abler  man  "  !  How  beautiful  and 
deeply  sincere  the  words,  coming  from  his  saddened 
heart,  in  which  he  characterized  his  devoted  followers  in 
that  official  letter  tendering  his  resignation !  Speaking 
of  the  new  commander,  whose  selection  he  was  anxious 
should  at  once  be  made,  he  said :  "  I  know  he  will  have 
as  gallant  and  brave  an  army  as  ever  existed  to  second 
his  efforts,  and  it  will  be  the  happiest  day  of  my  life  to 
see  at  its  head  a  worthy  leader— one  who  can  accomplish 


176   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  .CIVIL  WAR 

more  than  I  can  hope  to  perform,  and  all  that  I  have 
wished."  He  urged  with  characteristic  earnestness  as 
his  reason  for  asking  the  selection  of  another  commander, 
"the  desire  to  serve  my  country,  and  to  do  all  in  my 
power  to  insure  the  success  of  her  righteous  cause."  He 
had  no  grievances  to  ventilate ;  no  scapegoat  to  bear  the 
burden  of  his  responsibilities;  no  puerile  repinings  at 
the  fickleness  of  Fortune ;  no  complaints  to  lodge  against 
the  authorities  above  him  for  the  paucity  of  the  resources 
they  were  able  to  provide.  Of  himself,  and  of  himself 
only,  did  he  complain ;  and  he  was  the  only  man  in  his 
army  who  would  have  made  such  complaint.  General 
Lee  might  criticise  himself,  but  criticisms  of  him  by  any 
other  officer  would  have  been  answered  by  an  indignant 
and  crushing  rebuke  from  the  whole  Confederate  army. 
The  nearest  approach  he  made  to  fault-finding  was  his 
statement  that  his  own  sight  was  not  perfect,  and  that 
he  was  so  dull  that,  in  attempting  to  use  the  eyes  of 
others,  he  found  himself  often  misled. 

To  General  Lee's  request  to  be  relieved,  and  to  have 
an  abler  man  placed  in  his  position,  Mr.  Davis  very 
pointedly  aud  truthfully  replied  that  to  request  him  to 
find  some  one  "  more  fit  for  command,  or  who  possessed 
more  of  the  confidence  of  the  army,  or  of  the  reflecting 
men  of  the  country,  is  to  demand  an  impossibility." 


CHAPTER  XII 

VICKSBURG   AND   HELENA 

The  four  most  crowded  and  decisive  days  of  the  war— Vicksburg  the 
culmination  of  Confederate  disaster  —  Frequent  change  of  com 
manders  in  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department— General  Grant's  tun 
nel  at  Fort  Hill  —  Courage  of  Pemberton's  soldiers — Explosion  of  the 
mine — Hand-to-hand  conflict — The  surrender. 

IF  called  upon  to  select  in  the  four  years  of  war,  from 
April,  1861,  to  April,  1865,  four  consecutive  days 
into  which  were  crowded  events  more  momentous  and 
decisive  than  occurred  in  any  other  like  period,  I  should 
name  the  1st,  2d,  3d,  and  4th  of  July,  1863.  During 
the  first  three  we  were  engaged  at  Gettysburg  in  a 
struggle  which  might  decide  the  fate  of  the  Federal 
capital,  of  Baltimore,  and  possibly  of  Philadelphia,  if  not 
of  the  Union  itself.  On  the  4th  General  Grant  received 
the  surrender  at  Vicksburg  of  35,000  Confederates  under 
General  Pemberton. 

There  were  other  days  which  will  always  be  conspic 
uous  in  the  records  of  that  war;  but  I  do  not  believe 
that  any  other  four  days,  consecutive  or  isolated,  so 
directly  and  decidedly  dashed  the  hopes  of  the  Southern 
people.  The  double  disaster  to  our  arms— the  Gettys 
burg  failure  and  the  fall  of  Vicksburg— occurring  at  dis 
tant  points  and  almost  simultaneously,  was  a  blow  heavy 
enough  to  have  effectually  dispirited  any  army  that  was 
ever  marshalled.  It  is,  however,  a  remarkable  fact  that 
the  morale  of  the  Confederate  army  was  not  affected— at 


178    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

least,  was  not  perceptibly  lowered  by  it.  The  men  en 
dured  increasing  privations  with  the  same  cheerfulness 
and  fought  with  the  same  constancy  and  courage  after 
those  events  as  they  did  before.  In  proof,  I  need  only 
summon  as  witnesses  the  fields  of  Chickamauga,  Resaca, 
Atlanta,  and  Jonesboro  in  Georgia ;  Franklin  in  Tennes 
see  ;  Monocacy  in  Maryland ;  and  the  Wilderness,  Spott- 
sylvania,  Cold  Harbor,  Bermuda  Hundred,  and  Peters 
burg  in  Virginia.  To  Southern  thought  this  wonderfully 
persistent  courage  of  the  Southern  troops  is  easily  under 
stood  on  the  theory  that  the  independence  of  the  South 
was  as  consecrated  a  cause  as  any  for  which  freemen 
ever  fought ;  but  it  is  probably  true  that  such  steadfast 
ness  and  constancy  under  such  appalling  conditions  will 
remain  to  analytical  writers  of  later  times  one  of  the  un 
solved  mysteries  of  that  marvellous  era  of  internecine 
strife. 

The  capture  by  General  Grant  of  Pemberton  and  his 
men  at  Vicksburg  was  preceded  by  no  great  victories  in 
the  West  for  either  side.  The  Confederates,  however, 
had  been  successful  in  their  efforts  to  hold  some  points 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  thus  preventing  its  entire  con 
trol  by  the  Union  army  and  the  complete  isolation  of  the 
Confederate  forces  in  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department. 
On  the  very  day  (Fourth  of  July,  1863)  when  General  Grant 
was  receiving  the  surrender  of  Vicksburg  and  its  starv 
ing  army,  the  Confederates  on  the  other  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi  were  fighting  for  the  possession  of  the  river  at 
Helena,  Arkansas.  General  Sterling  Price  ("  Old  Pap,"  as 
he  was  affectionately  called  by  his  men,  who  felt  for  him 
the  devotion  of  children  for  a  father)  had  captured  one  of 
the  leading  forts  which  crowned  the  hill  at  Helena,  and 
was  halting  in  the  fort  for  Generals  Joe  Shelby  and 
Walker,  under  Marmaduke,  to  capture  the  most  northern 
fort  and  then  sweep  down  upon  the  Union  lines  held  by 
Colonel  Clayton.  Shelby  was  wounded,  and  Walker  did 


VICKSBURG   AND  HELENA  179 

not  assail  the  Union  lines  because  he  was  waiting  under 
orders  until  the  fort  was  captured  by  Shelby.  Out  of 
this  affair  grew  that  unfortunate  quarrel  between  Gen 
erals  Walker  and  Marmaduke  which  ended  in  a  challenge 
to  a  duel,  and  the  killing  of  Walker  by  Marmaduke. 

While  Price  was  thus  waiting  for  the  movement  under 
Marmaduke,  General  Holmes,  who  was  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Confederate  forces,  rode  to  the  captured 
fort.  He  ordered  General  Price  at  once  to  assault  an 
infinitely  stronger  fort,  one  heavily  manned  and  practi 
cally  impregnable.  The  forces  which  Price  could  bring 
against  it  were  utterly  inadequate,  and  the  assault  failed, 
disastrously  failed,  adding  to  the  discomfiture  of  the 
Confederacy. 

As  illustrating  the  trials  which  beset  both  the  Confed 
erate  and  United  States  governments  in  their  efforts  to 
select  able  and  efficient  chiefs  for  their  armies,  I  may 
note  the  fact  that  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department 
changed  commanders  about  as  often  as  the  Union  army 
in  Virginia  changed  leaders  in  its  repeated  marches  upon 
Richmond.  General  Holmes  was  not  successful  in  his 
effort  to  command  the  support  or  the  good-will  of  his 
officers  and  men.  Disagreements  with  his  officers  were 
not  rare,  and  arrests  were  not  infrequent.  On  a  notable 
occasion  General  Joe  Shelby,  of  Missouri,  one  of  the 
noted  cavalry  officers  of  the  Civil  War,  was  placed  under 
arrest  and  ordered  to  report  to  the  Commanding  Gen 
eral.  Shelby,  in  his  cavalry  operations,  was  compelled 
to  depend  largely  upon  his  own  efforts  among  the  people 
to  furnish  supplies  for  his  men  and  horses.  Necessarily, 
under  such  circumstances,  there  were  occasional  collisions 
between  his  appointed  foragers  and  the  suffering  citizens. 
Such  disagreements  could  not  be  avoided,  although  the 
citizens  were  patriotic  and  generous,  and  the  large  body 
of  Shelby's  men  were  of  the  law-abiding  and  leading 
classes  of  northern  Missouri.  When  these  disagreements 


180    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

occurred  between  the  soldiers  and  the  citizens,  complaints 
were  made  to  General  Holmes.  Without  waiting  to  in 
vestigate  the  charges,  he  at  once  ordered  Shelby  under 
arrest.  When  the  dashing  cavalryman  appeared  before 
his  commanding  general  to  learn  the  reason  for  his 
arrest,  the  irascible  General  Holmes  opened  upon  him  a 
battery  of  invective.  His  first  discharge  was :  "  General 
Shelby,  you  are  charged  with  being  a  robber,  sir,  and 
your  men  with  being  thieves." 

"Who  made  these  charges,  General  Holmes'?" 

"  Everybody,  sir ;  everybody !  " 

"  And  you  believe  them,  do  you,  General  Holmes ! " 

"  Certainly  I  do,  sir.    How  can  I  help  believing  them  ?" 

Joe  Shelby,  justly  proud  of  his  splendid  command, 
was  deeply  indignant  at  the  wrong  done  both  to  himself 
and  his  high-spirited  men.  He  was  also  not  a  little 
amused  by  this  remarkable  procedure  and  by  the  fiery 
invectives  of  the  aged  commander.  He  quietly  replied : 

"Well,  General  Holmes,  I  will  be  more  just  to  you 
than  you  have  been  to  me  and  my  men.  Everybody  says 
that  you  are  a  damned  old  fool ;  but  I  do  not  believe  it." 

This  ended  the  interview,  and  in  the  ensuing  battles 
nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  arrest  or  the  charges. 
General  Shelby  died  recently  while  holding  the  office  of 
United  States  Marshal  for  his  State  and  the  position  of 
Commander  of  the  United  Confederate  Veterans  of  Mis 
souri. 

Among  these  Missouri  Confederates  was  Dick  Lloyd, 
a  private  in  Price's  command  who  deserves  a  place 
among  American  heroes.  In  a  furious  battle  Dick 
Lloyd  had  both  arms  shot  off  below  the  elbow.  He 
recovered,  however,  and  refused  to  be  retired  from  ser 
vice.  Without  hands  he  still  did  his  duty  as  a  soldier 
to  the  end  of  the  war,  acting  as  courier,  and  guiding  and 
successfully  managing  his  horse  by  tying  the  bridle- 
reins  around  the  crook  in  his  elbow.  He  lives  now  in 


VICKSBURG  AND   HELENA  181 

Helena,  and  has  supported  his  family  for  years  by  rid 
ing  horseback,  carrying  mail  through  country  districts. 
The  commander  of  the  Union  forces  at  Helena  on  this 
fourth  day  of  July,  1863,  was  the  gallant  General  Prentiss, 
who  made  so  enviable  a  record  at  Shiloh,  where  he  was 
captured.  In  that  battle  the  position  which  for  hours 
was  held  by  his  men  was  raked  by  so  deadly  a  fire  that 
it  was  called  by  the  Federals  "  The  Hornet's  Nest "  and 
he  "The  Hero  of  the  Hornet's  Nest."  At  Helena, 
July,  1863,  he  repulsed  Shelby  at  the  flanking  fort, 
Feagin  at  Fort  Hindman,  and  Price  at  Fort  Curtis, 
after  that  brave  old  Missourian  had  captured  the  fort 
ress  upon  Graveyard  Hill.  Prentiss  was,  therefore, 
enabled  to  join  General  Grant  in  celebrating  the  Fourth 
of  July  over  another  victory  for  the  Union  armies.  The 
roaring  guns  on  the  opposite  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
proclaimed  the  opening  of  the  river  from  the  source  to 
its  mouth— news  as  depressing  to  the  Confederates  as  it 
was  inspiring  to  the  Union  armies.  To  the  Southern 
heart  and  hope  this  final  capture  and  complete  control 
of  the  great  waterway  severing  the  Confederate  terri 
tory  and  isolating  the  great  storehouse  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  while  recognized  as  a  great  calamity,  was 
perhaps  less  depressing  and  galling  than  the  surrender 
at  Vicksburg  of  Pemberton's  splendid  army  of  35,000  men. 
The  imperial  Roman,  Ca?sar  Augustus,  after  the  crushing 
defeat  of  his  vicegerent  Varus  in  Germany,  which  in 
volved  the  destruction  of  his  army  and  the  drag 
ging  of  his  proud  Eagles  in  the  dust,  lamented 
more  the  loss  of  that  valiant  body  of  Roman  soldiery 
than  he  did  the  breaking  of  his  dominion  over  German 
territory.  In  his  grief  over  this  irreparable  disaster, 
Augustus  is  said  to  have  murmured  to  himself  as  he 
gazed  into  vacancy,  "  Varus,  Varus,  give  me  back  my 
legions."  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  if  General 
Pemberton  could  have  saved  his  army,  could  have 


182    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

given  back  to  the  Confederacy  those  splendid  "  legions  " 
which  had  so  long  and  so  bravely  fought  and  starved 
in  the  trenches  around  Vicksburg,  the  fall  of  that  Mis 
sissippi  city  would  have  been  stripped  of  more  than 
half  its  depressing  effects.  General  Grant  knew  this. 
He  knew  that  the  Confederate  government  could  not 
replace  those  soldiers,  who  were  among  its  best ;  and  he 
decided,  therefore,  to  circumvent,  if  possible,  all  efforts 
at  escape  and  every  movement  to  rescue  them. 

General  Johnston,  then  chief  in  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  West,  had  anticipated  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  and 
had  persistently  endeavored  to  prevent  General  Pem- 
berton  being  hemmed  in.  But  there  was  no  other  avenue 
open  to  General  Pemberton,  as  General  Grant  had  closed 
all  other  lines  of  retreat. 

The  shock  of  Vicksburg's  fall  was  felt  from  one  end 
of  the  Confederacy  to  the  other.  Following  so  closely 
on  the  repulse  of  the  Confederates  at  Gettysburg,  it 
called  from  the  press  and  people  thoughtless  and  unfair 
criticisms.  In  a  peculiarly  sensitive  mood,  the  public 
sought  some  other  explanation  than  the  real  one,  and 
great  injustice  was  done  General  Pemberton.  But  this 
brave  officer's  loyalty  and  devotion  were  tested  — 
thoroughly  tested.  At  a  sacrifice  almost  measureless, 
he  had  separated  from  his  own  kindred,  and  in  obedi 
ence  to  his  profound  convictions  had  drawn  his  sword 
for  Southern  independence.  He  did  not  cut  his  way  out 
of  Vicksburg  because  his  army  was  not  strong  enough ; 
he  did  not  hold  the  city  longer  because  his  troops  and 
the  population  could  not  live  without  food.  That  great 
soldier,  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  with  all  his  skill  in 
manoeuvre  and  as  strategist,  failed  to  afford  the  needed 
relief.  At  Raymond,  on  May  12,  General  Johnston  had 
been  forced  back  upon  Jackson,  Mississippi.  On  the  14th 
he  fought  the  heavy  battle  of  Jackson.  On  the  16th, 


VICKSBURG  AND   HELENA  183 

Pemberton  moved  out  and  fought,  grandly  fought,  at 
Champion  Hill.  Three  days  later  he  made  another 
stand  against  Grant's  advance  at  Black  River;  hold 
ing  the  weaker  lines  and  with  inferior  forces,  he  was 
driven  into  the  trenches  at  Vicksburg.  On  the  22d 
of  May,  three  days  later,  General  Grant  invested  the 
fated  city.  Thenceforward  to  July  4th  Pemberton  and 
his  men  held  those  works  against  the  combined  fire  of 
small  arms,  artillery,  and  gunboats,  sinking  a  Union 
monitor  on  the  river,  making  sorties  to  the  front, 
resisting  efforts  to  scale  the  works,  rallying  around  the 
breach  made  by  the  explosion  at  Fort  Hill,  rushing  upon 
and  crushing  the  Union  columns  as  they  pressed  into 
that  breach,  and  holding  the  city  against  every  assault, 
save  that  of  starvation. 

Scarcely  had  General  Grant  settled  in  his  lines  around 
the  city  w^hen  his  intrepid  men  were  standing  in  the 
dim  starlight  on  the  margin  of  the  ditches  which  bor 
dered  the  Confederate  earthworks.  With  scaling-lad 
ders  on  their  shoulders,  they  made  ready  to  mount  the 
parapets  and  fight  hand  to  hand  with  the  devoted  Con 
federate  defenders.  These  great  ditches  were  deep  and 
wide ;  the  scaling-ladders  were  too  short.  Upon  the  top 
of  the  earthworks  stood  Pemberton's  men,  pouring  a 
galling  fire  down  on  the  Union  heads  below.  Under 
that  fire  the  Union  ranks  melted,  some  falling  dead  upon 
the  bank,  others  tumbling  headlong  into  the  ditches, 
still  others  leaping  voluntarily  sixteen  feet  downward 
to  its  bottom  to  escape  the  consuming  blast,  and  the 
remainder  abandoning  the  futile  effort  in  precipitate 
retreat. 

The  commanding  position  along  the  line  of  defensive 
works  was  the  fortress  on  the  lofty  eminence  called 
Fort  Hill.  Toward  this  fortress,  with  the  purpose  of 
undermining  it  and  blowing  it  skyward,  General  Grant 
began  early  in  June  to  drive  his  zigzag  tunnel.  The 


184  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR 

task  was  not  herculean  in  the  amount  of  labor  required 
to  accomplish  it,  but  was  a  most  tedious  one,  as  but  few 
men  could  be  employed  at  the  work,  and  every  pound  of 
earth  had  to  be  carried  out  at  the  tunnel's  mouth.  Day 
and  night  the  work  was  pressed.  Nearer  and  nearer 
the  tunnel  approached  the  point  where  mother  earth  was 
to  receive  into  her  innocent  bosom  the  explosives  that 
would  hurl  the  fort  high  into  the  air  and  bury  in  the 
ruins  the  brave  men  who  defended  it.  While  such  ex 
plosions  failed  to  accomplish  important  results  during 
this  war,  the  knowledge  that  they  were  to  occur,  and 
the  uncertainty  as  to  when  or  where,  filled  the  minds  of 
soldiers  with  an  indescribable  apprehension.  The  high- 
spirited  volunteers  of  both  armies  could  meet  without  a 
tremor  the  inost  furious  storms  and  agony  of  battle  in 
the  open  field,  where  they  could  see  the  foe  and  meet 
fire  with  fire;  if  need  be,  they  could  face  the  pelting 
hail  of  bullets  without  returning  a  shot,  and  meet  death 
as  Napoleon's  great  marshal  proposed  to  meet  it  when, 
in  the  endeavor  to  hold  his  troops  in  a  withering  fire 
without  returning  it,  he  stepped  to  their  front  and, 
folding  his  arms,  said  to  them,  "  Soldiers  of  France,  see 
how  a  marshal  can  die  in  discharge  of  his  duty  !  "  But 
to  walk  the  silent  parapets  in  the  gloom  of  night,  above 
the  magazine  of  death  which  they  knew  was  beneath 
them,  to  stand  in  line  along  the  threatened  battlements, 
with  only  the  dull  tread  of  the  sentinel  sounding  in  the 
darkness,  while  the  imagination  pictured  the  terrors  of 
the  explosion  which  was  coming  perhaps  that  night, 
perhaps  that  hour  or  that  moment,  or  the  next:  this 
was  a  phase  of  war  which  taxed  the  nerve  of  any  soldier, 
even  the  most  phlegmatic. 

Pemberton's  soldiers,  faint  with  hunger  and  in  full 
knowledge  that  they  were  standing  above  a  death- 
dealing  magazine,  endured  such  harrowing  suspense 
night  after  night  for  weeks.  As  each  regiment  was 


VICKSBURG  AND  HELENA  185 

successively  assigned  to  the  awful  duty,  they  wondered 
whether  the  tunnel  was  yet  complete,  whether  the  bar 
rels  of  powder  had  been  placed  beneath  them,  whether 
it  was  to  be  their  fate  or  the  fate  of  the  next  regiment 
to  be  whirled  upward  with  tons  of  earth  and  torn  limb 
from  limb.  Bravely,  grandly,  they  took  their  posts 
without  a  murmur.  No  hyperbole  can  exaggerate  the 
loftiness  of  spirit  that  could  calmly  await  the  moment 
and  manner  of  such  a  martyrdom.  Every  one  of  those 
emaciated  Southern  soldiers  who  trod  that  fated  ground 
should  have  his  name  recorded  in  history.  Beside 
them  in  American  war  annals  should  be  placed  the 
names  of  those  Union  soldiers  who,  amidst  the  explosions 
and  conflagration  at  Yorktown,  Virginia,  in  December, 
1863,  won  the  gratitude  of  their  people.  During  those 
trying  scenes,  in  the  effort  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the 
Confederate  prisoners,  Private  Michael  Ryan  of  the  Six 
teenth  New  York,  his  leg  shivered  by  a  shell,  remained 
on  his  knees  at  his  post  with  his  musket  in  hand. 
Private  Healey,  One  Hundred  and  Forty-eighth  New  York, 
stood  at  the  gate,  almost  parched  by  the  flames,  until  the 
explosion  hurled  the  gate  and  his  own  body  high  into 
the  air. 

On  the  night  of  June  26,  1863,  the  long-dreaded  hour 
came  to  Pemberton's  faithful  and  fated  watchers.  Gen 
eral  Grant  had  finished  his  tunnel.  Under  the  fortress 
at  Fort  Hill  he  had  piled  the  tons  of  powder,  and  had 
run  through  this  powder  electric  wires  whose  sparks  of 
fire  were  to  wake  the  black  Hercules  to  the  work  of 
death.  As  Pemberton's  Confederates  stood  around  the 
silent  battlements,  the  moments  were  lengthened  into 
hours  by  the  intensity  of  their  apprehension ;  and  as 
Grant's  veterans  crept  and  formed  in  the  darkness  be 
hind  the  adjacent  hills,  waiting  for  the  earthquake  shock 
to  summon  them  to  the  breach,  the  clock  in  the  sleeping 
city  struck  the  hour  of  ten.  The  electric  messengers 


186   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

flew  along  the  wires.  The  loaded  magazines  responded 
with  the  convulsive  roar  of  a  thousand  unchained  thun 
derbolts.  The  hills  quivered,  shaking  from  roof  to 
foundation-stone  every  Vicksburg  home.  High  above  its 
highest  turret  flew  the  trampled  floor  of  the  fortress,  with 
the  bodies  of  its  gray-clad  defenders.  Into  its  powder- 
blackened  and  smoking  ruins  quickly  rushed  the  charg 
ing  columns  of  Grant,  led  by  the  Thirty- second  Regiment 
of  Illinois ;  Pemberton's  Confederates  from  the  right  and 
left  and  rear  of  the  demolished  fort  piled  into  the  breach 
at  the  same  instant.  Hand  to  hand  over  the  upheaved 
and  rugged  earth  they  grappled  with  the  invaders  in  the 
darkness.  This  Illinois  regiment,  after  desperately 
fighting  and  holding  the  breach  for  two  hours,  was  over 
powered.  Again  and  again  in  rapid  succession  came 
the  Union  charges.  Pemberton's  veterans,  from  the 
broken  rim  of  the  fortress,  poured  upon  them  an  inces 
sant  fire  from  small  arms,  and,  carrying  loaded  shells 
with  burning  fuses  in  their  hands,  rolled  them  down  the 
crater's  banks  to  explode  among  the  densely  packed 
attacking  forces.  For  six  hours  this  furious  combat 
raged  in  the  darkness.  From  ten  at  night  till  four  in 
the  morning  the  resolute  Federals  held  the  breach,  but 
could  make  no  headway  against  the  determined  Confed 
erate  resistance.  The  tunnel  had  been  driven,  the  mag 
azine  exploded,  and  the  fort  demolished.  The  long 
agony  of  Confederate  suspense  was  over.  The  desperate 
effort  of  the  Union  commander  to  force  his  column 
through  the  breach  had  failed.  The  heaps  of  his  dead 
and  wounded,  more  than  a  thousand  in  number,  piled 
in  that  narrow  space,  had  given  to  this  spot  among  his 
surviving  men  the  name  of  "Logan's  Slaughter  Pen." 
In  the  terrific  explosion  a  Confederate  negro,  who 
chanced  to  be  in  the  fort  at  the  time,  was  thrown  a 
considerable  distance  toward  the  Union  line  without 
being  fatally  hurt.  Picking  himself  up  half  dead,  half 


VICKSBURG  AND  HELENA  187 

alive,  he  found  around  him  the  Union  soldiers  moving 
on  the  smoking  crater. 

"  How  did  you  get  here  1 "  he  was  asked. 

"  Don't  know,  boss.  Yestidy  I  was  in  de  Confed'acy ; 
but,  bless  de  Lawd,  last  night  somethin'  busted  and 
blowed  me  plum*  into  de  Union." 


CHAPTER  XIII 

FKOM  VICKSBUKG  AND   GETTYSBUKG  TO   CHICKAMAUGA 

Lee's  army  again  headed  toward  Washington— He  decides  not  to 
cross  the  Potomac  at  the  opening  of  winter — Meade's  counter 
attack—Capture  of  a  redoubt  on  the  Rappahannock— A  criticism  of 
Secretary  Stanton— General  Bragg's  strategy— How  Rosecrans  com 
pelled  the  evacuation  of  Chattanooga. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1863  both  Lee's  and  Meade's  armies 
had  returned  from  Pennsylvania  and  were  again 
camping  or  tramping  on  the  soil  of  Virginia.  The  Union 
forces  were  in  complete  and  easy  communication  with 
the  great  storehouses  and  granaries  of  the  North  and 
West.  The  Confederates  were  already  in  a  struggle  for 
meagre  subsistence.  Meade  began  another  march  on 
Richmond.  Lee  patched  up  his  army  as  best  he  could, 
threw  it  across  Meade's  path,  and  halted  him  at  the 
Rapidan.  Thenceforward  for  weeks  and  months,  these 
two  commanders  were  watching  each  other  from  opposite 
sides  of  the  Rapidan,  moving  up  and  down  the  river  and 
the  roads,  seeking  an  opportunity  for  a  blow  and  never 
finding  it.  Lee  made  the  first  move.  On  October  9, 1863, 
he  headed  his  army  again  toward  Washington  and  the 
Potomac,  passing  Meade's  right,  and  threatening  to  throw 
the  Confederates  between  the  Union  forces  and  the  na 
tional  capital.  Lee  at  one  time  was  nearer  to  Washing 
ton  than  Meade,  but  as  there  was  no  longer  any  green 
corn  in  the  fields  for  the  Southern  soldiers  to  subsist 
upon,  the  difficulty  of  feeding  them  checked  Lee's  march 

188 


VICKSBURG  TO  CHICKAMAUGA      189 

and  put  Meade  ahead  of  him  and  nearer  to  the  defences 
around  Washington.  Lee  then  debated  whether  he 
should  assail  Meade  on  or  near  the  old  field  of  Bull  Bun 
or  recross  the  Potomac  into  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 
He  decided  not  to  attack,  because  he  found  Meade's 
position  too  strong  and  too  well  intrenched.  He  declined 
to  cross  again  the  Potomac  at  the  opening  of  winter, 
because,  as  he  said,  "  Thousands  of  our  men  are  bare 
footed,  thousands  with  fragments  of  shoes,  all  without 
overcoats,  blankets,  or  warm  clothing.  I  cannot  bear  to 
expose  them  to  certain  suffering  on  an  uncertain  issue." 
We  were  not  able  then,  as  formerly,  to  furnish  to  each 
soldier  strips  of  rawhide,  which  he  might  tie  on,  with 
the  hair  side  next  his  feet,  and  thus  make  rude  sandals ; 
and  these  picturesque  foot-coverings,  if  obtainable, 
would  scarcely  have  been  sufficient  for  long  marches 
in  the  coming  freezes.  So  Lee  returned  to  his  camps 
behind  the  Rapidan  and  Rappahannock. 

Some  spirited  engagements  of  minor  importance  oc 
curred  between  detached  portions  of  the  two  armies,  in 
which  the  honors  were  about  equally  divided  between 
the  two  sides.  Stuart's  Southern  horsemen  had  the  better 
of  the  fight  at  Buckland,  and  the  Confederates  were  suc 
cessful  on  the  Rapidan ;  but  Warren's  Union  forces  cap 
tured  five  pieces  of  artillery  and  between  four  and  five 
hundred  prisoners  from  A.  P.  Hill. 

As  Lee  moved  back,  Meade  followed,  and  the  programme 
of  marching  after  each  other  across  the  river  was  resumed. 
Just  one  month,  lacking  two  days,  after  Lee's  move  to 
ward  Washington,  Meade  turned  his  columns  toward 
Richmond.  His  first  dash,  made  at  a  redoubt  which 
stood  in  his  way  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Rappahan 
nock,  was  a  brilliant  success.  The  redoubt  was  occupied 
by  a  portion  of  Early's  troops,  and  was  carried  just  be 
fore  nightfall  by  a  sudden  rush.  I  sat  on  my  horse,  with 
a  number  of  officers,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  little 


190  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

river,  almost  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  spot.  General 
Early  did  not  seem  to  consider  it  seriously  threatened, 
nor  did  any  one  else,  although  the  Union  artillery  was 
throwing  some  shells,  one  of  which  lowered  the  perch  of 
a  visiting  civilian  at  my  side  by  shortening  the  legs  of  his 
horse.  The  dash  upon  the  redoubt  was  made  by  Maine 
and  Wisconsin  regiments — troops  of  Russell  and  Upton, 
under  Sedgwick,  who  was  regarded  by  the  Confederates 
as  one  of  the  best  officers  in  the  Union  army.  Person 
ally  I  had  great  reason  to  respect  Sedgwick,  for  it  was 
my  fortune  in  the  ensuing  campaign  to  be  pitted  against 
him  on  several  occasions.  Though  nothing  like  so  serious 
to  the  Confederates  in  its  results,  this  brilliant  little  epi 
sode  on  the  Rappahannock  resembled  in  character  the 
subsequent  great  charge  of  Hancock  over  the  Bloody 
Angle  at  Spottsylvania  on  May  12,  1864.  Both  assaults 
were  so  unexpected  and  made  with  such  a  rush  that  the 
defending  troops  had  no  time  to  fire.  Only  a  few  shots 
were  discharged  at  Hancock's  men  at  Spottsylvania,  and 
in  the  capture  of  this  redoubt  by  Russell  and  Upton 
only  six  Union  men  were  killed.  It  was  justly  consid 
ered  by  General  Meade  as  most  creditable  to  his  troops ; 
and  he  sent  General  Russell  himself  to  bear  the  eight 
captured  Confederate  flags  to  Washington.  Mr.  Stanton 
may  have  been  a  great  Secretary  of  War,  and  I  must 
suppose  him  such;  but  if  he  treated  General  Russell 
as  he  is  reported  to  have  treated  him,  he  had  as  little 
appreciation  of  the  keen  sensibilities  of  a  high-strung 
soldier  as  old  Boreas  has  for  the  green  summer  glories 
of  the  great  oak.  The  Secretary,  it  is  said,  was  "too 
busy"  to  see  General  Russell.  The  proposition  will 
scarcely  be  questioned,  I  think,  that  a  Secretary  of  War, 
who  is  not  called  upon  to  endure  the  hardships  of  the 
field  and  meet  the  dangers  of  battle,  should  never  be 
"too  busy"  to  meet  a  gallant  soldier  who  is  defending 
his  flag  at  the  front,  and  who  calls  to  lay  before  him  the 


VICKSBURG   TO  CHICKAMAUGA      191 

trophies  of  victory.  Perhaps  the  Secretary  thought  that 
General  Russell  and  his  men  had  only  done  their  duty. 
So  they  had ;  but  "  Light  Horse  Harry  "  Lee,  the  father 
of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  only  did  his  duty  when  he 
planned  and  executed  the  brilliant  dash  upon  Paulus 
Hook  and  captured  it.  The  Continental  Congress,  how 
ever,  thought  it  worth  its  while  to  turn  from  its  regu 
lar  business  and  make  recognition  of  the  handsome  work 
done  by  voting  the  young  officer  a  gold  medal.  All  the 
wreaths  ever  conferred  at  the  Olympic  games,  all  the 
decorations  of  honor  ever  bestowed  upon  the  brave,  all 
the  swords  and  the  thanks  ever  voted  to  a  soldier,  were 
designed  to  make  the  same  impress  upon  their  recipients 
which  three  minutes  of  the  busy  Secretary's  time  and  a 
few  gracious  words  would  have  produced  on  the  mind 
and  spirit  of  General  Russell  and  his  comrades. 

General  Meade  crossed  the  Rappahannock  and  then 
recrossed  it.  He  found  Lee  strongly  posted  behind  Mine 
Run,  and  suddenly  returned  to  his  winter  quarters. 
General  Lee  moved  back  to  his  encampment  on  the 
border  of  the  Wilderness  and  along  the  historic  banks 
of  the  Rapidan. 

Meantime,  in  the  months  intervening  between  the 
Gettysburg  campaign  and  the  hibernation  of  the  two 
armies  in  1863-64,  a  portion  of  Lee's  forces  had  been  sent 
under  Longstreet  to  aid  Bragg  in  his  effort  to  check  the 
further  advance  of  the  Union  army  under  Rosecrans 
at  Chickamauga.  My  troops  were  not  among  those  sent 
to  Georgia,  and  therefore  took  no  part  in  that  great  bat 
tle  which  saturated  with  blood  the  soil  of  my  native 
State. 

A  chapter  full  of  interest  to  the  military  critic  and  to 
the  student  of  strategy  might  be  written  of  the  two 
armies  commanded  respectively  by  Rosecrans  and 
Bragg,  and  of  their  movements  prior  to  the  clash  in  the 
woodlands  at  Chickamauga. 


192    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAK 

The  antecedent  campaign  runs  back  in  a  connected 
chain  to  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  in  the 
preceding  December.  Under  General  Bragg,  at  Mur 
freesboro,  as  one  of  his  division  commanders,  was  an 
ex- Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  who  had  also 
been  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  the 
campaign  of  1860,  and  had  presided  over  the  joint  session 
of  the  two  houses  of  Congress  when  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  declared  duly  elected.  This  illustrious  statesman, 
who  was  fast  winning  his  way  to  distinction  in  his  new 
role  of  Confederate  soldier,  was  John  C.  Breckinridge  of 
Kentucky.  Tall,  erect,  and  commanding  in  physique, 
he  would  have  been  selected  in  any  martial  group  as  a 
typical  leader.  In  the  campaign  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia, 
where  I  afterward  saw  much  of  him,  he  exhibited  in  a 
marked  degree  the  characteristics  of  a  great  com 
mander.  He  was  fertile  in  resource,  and  enlisted  and 
held  the  confidence  and  affection  of  his  men,  while 
he  inspired  them  with  enthusiasm  arid  ardor.  Under 
fire  and  in  extreme  peril  he  was  strikingly  courage 
ous,  alert,  and  self-poised.  No  man  in  the  Confederate 
army  had  surrendered  a  brighter  political  future,  sacri 
ficed  more  completely  his  personal  ambition,  or  suffered 
more  keenly  from  the  perplexing  conditions  in  his 
own  State.  With  all  his  other  trials,  and  before  he  had 
fairly  begun  his  career  as  a  soldier,  General  Breck 
inridge  had  been  strongly  tempted  to  challenge  to 
personal  combat  his  superior  officer,  General  Bragg, 
who  at  the  time  was  commander-in-chief  of  the  Con 
federate  forces  in  the  Department  of  Tennessee  and  the 
"West.  At  the  battle  of  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee  (Decem 
ber,  1862),  this  brilliant  soldier  from  the  blue-grass  region 
had  led  his  gallant  Kentuckians  through  a  consuming  fire 
on  both  flanks,  losing  about  thirty-six  per  cent,  of  his 
men  in  less  than  half  an  hour.  General  Bragg,  who,  it 
seems,  was  not  present  at  the  point  where  this  move- 


VICKSBURG  TO   OHICKAMAUGA      193 

ment  was  made,  had  in  some  way  been  misinformed  as 
to  the  conduct  of  General  Breckinridge's  troops,  and  sent 
to  Richmond  a  disparaging  despatch. 

These  high-bred  sons  of  Kentucky  who  had  left  home 
and  kindred  behind  them  had  already  made  a  record 
of  devotion  and  daring,  which  grew  in  lustre  to  the  end 
of  the  war,  and  which  any  troops  of  any  army  might 
envy.  At  this  battle  of  Murfreesboro  they  had  waded 
the  river  in  chilly  December,  had  charged  and  captured 
the  first  heights  and  doubled  back  one  wing  of  their 
stubbornly  fighting  antagonists.  They  had,  however, 
been  repelled  with  terrific  slaughter  in  the  impossible 
effort  to  capture  the  still  more  commanding  hill.  In 
this  fearful  assault  they  had  marched  between  converg 
ing  lines  of  fire  drawn  up  in  the  shape  of  the  letter  V, 
the  apex  of  those  lines  formed  by  hills  crowned  with 
batteries.  Among  their  killed  was  the  dashing  General 
Hanson,  one  of  the  foremost  soldiers  of  Bragg's  army. 
No  troops  that  were  ever  marshalled  could  have  suc 
ceeded  under  such  conditions  and  against  such  odds. 
Had  they  persisted  in  the  effort,  they  would  simply  have 
invited  annihilation.  Smarting  under  a  sense  of  the  in 
justice  done  themselves  and  their  dead  comrades  by  the 
commanding  general's  despatch  to  Richmond,  and  realiz 
ing  their  own  inability  to  have  the  wrong  righted,  they 
appealed  to  General  Breckinridge,  their  own  commander, 
to  resent  the  insult.  Resolutions  and  protests  were 
powerless  to  soothe  their  smarting  sensibilities  or  to 
assuage  their  burning  wrath.  They  urged  General 
Breckinridge  to  resign  his  position  in  the  army  and  call 
General  Bragg  to  personal  account— to  challenge  him  to 
single-handed  combat.  General  Breckinridge  must  have 
felt  as  keenly  as  they  the  wrong  inflicted,  but  he  was 
more  self-contained.  He  sought  to  appease  them  by 
reminding  them  of  the  exalted  motives  which  had  im 
pelled  them  to  enlist  in  the  army  as  volunteers,  of  the 


194  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

self-sacrifice  which  they  had  exhibited,  and  of  their  duty 
as  soldiers  to  endure  any  personal  wrong  for  the  sake  of 
the  common  cause.  His  appeal  was  riot  in  vain;  and 
when  he  added  that  if  both  he  and  General  Bragg  should 
live  to  the  end  of  the  war,  he  would  not  forget  their  re 
quest  to  call  the  commanding  general  to  account,  they 
gladly  went  forward,  enduring  and  fighting  to  the  end. 

The  Fabian  policy  of  General  Bragg,  adopted  after  the 
bloody  encounter  at  Murfreesboro,  his  retreat  to  Chatta- 
iiooga  and  beyond  it,  called  from  press  and  people  fewer 
and  milder  protests  than  those  afterward  made  against 
General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  for  a  like  policy.  It  would 
seem  that  the  persistent  criticisms  of  General  Johnston 
for  not  meeting  General  Sherman  between  Dalton  and  At 
lanta  in  determined  battle,  might  have  been  applied  with 
equal  force  to  General  Bragg  for  surrendering  the  strong 
positions  in  the  gaps  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains  and 
the  line  of  the  Tennessee  River  to  General  Rosecrans,  with 
out  more  resolute  resistance.  It  is  much  easier,  however, 
to  criticise  a  commander  than  to  command  an  army.  In 
both  these  cases  the  strong  positions  alluded  to  could 
have  been  successfully  flanked  and  the  Confederate  com 
manders  forced  to  retire,  as  the  Union  troops  moved 
around  toward  the  rear  and  threatened  the  Southern 
lines  of  communication  and  supplies.  General  Rose 
crans  was  too  able  a  soldier  and  too  wise  a  strategist  to 
assail  General  Bragg  in  his  selected  stronghold  when 
the  country  was  open  to  him  on  either  flank.  His  policy, 
therefore,  was  to  cross  the  Tennessee  River,  not  in  front 
of  Chattanooga,  where  Bragg  was  ready  to  meet  him, 
but  at  a  distance  either  above  or  below  it.  Both  were 
practicable ;  and  he  set  his  army  in  motion  toward  points 
both  above  and  below  the  city,  thus  leaving  General 
Bragg  in  doubt  as  to  his  real  purpose.  He  sent  a  force 
to  the  hills  just  opposite  Chattanooga,  and  opened  heavy 
fire  with  his  batteries  upon  Bragg's  position.  He  sent 


VICKSBURG  TO   CHICKAMAUGA       195 

still  larger  forces  up  the  right  bank  of  the  Tennessee  to 
a  point  more  than  forty  miles  above  Chattanooga.  Camp- 
fires  were  built  along  the  brows  of  the  mountains  and 
on  hillsides,  in  order  to  attract  Bragg' s  attention  arid 
create  the  belief  that  the  great  body  of  the  Union  army 
\vas  above  the  city.  Troops  were  marched  across  open 
spaces  exposed  to  view,  then  countermarched  behind  the 
hills,  and  passed  again  and  again  through  the  same  open 
spaces,  thus  deepening  the  impression  that  large  forces 
were  marching  up  the  river.  To  still  further  strengthen 
this  impression  upon  the  Confederate  commander,  Union 
drums  were  beat  and  bugles  sounded  for  great  distances 
along  the  mountain-ranges.  Union  axes,  saws,  and 
hammers  were  loud  in  their  demonstrations  of  boat 
building;  but  they  were  only  demonstrations.  The  real 
work,  the  real  preparation,  was  going  forward  fully  fifty 
miles  south  of  this  noisy  point.  The  apparent  movement 
above  Chattanooga,  and  the  real  preparation  for  crossing 
far  below,  were  admirably  planned  and  consummately 
executed  by  General  Rosecrans,  and  showed  a  strategic 
ability  perhaps  not  surpassed  by  any  officer  during  the 
war.  Behind  the  woods  and  hills  men  were  drilled  in 
the  work  of  laying  bridges.  Trains  of  cars  loaded  with 
bridges  and  boats  were  unloaded  at  a  point  entirely  pro 
tected  from  the  view  of  the  Confederate  cavalry  on  the 
opposite  banks  of  the  river.  Fifty  of  these  boats,  each 
with  a  capacity  of  fifty  men,  were  hurried  in  the  early 
morning  to  the  river- bank  and  launched  upon  the  water. 
This  formidable  fleet,  carrying  2500  armed  men,  pulled 
for  the  other  shore,  which  was  guarded  only  by  Confed 
erate  cavalry  pickets.  With  this  strong  force  of  Union 
infantry  landed  on  the  southern  bank,  the  pontoon-bridge 
soon  spanned  the  stream.  Across  it  were  hurried  all  the 
Union  infantry  and  artillery  that  could  be  crowded  upon 
it.  At  other  points  canoes  of  enormous  size  were  hewn 
out  of  tall  poplars  that  grew  in  the  lowlands.  Logs  were 


196  REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

rolled  into  the  stream  and  fastened  together,  and  as 
these  improvised  flotillas,  loaded  with  soldiers,  were 
pushed  from  the  shore,  athletic  swimmers,  left  behind, 
caught  the  enthusiasm,  and  piling  their  clothing,  arms, 
and  accoutrements  upon  rails  lashed  together,  leaped 
into  the  stream  and  swam  across,  pushing  the  loaded 
rails  before  them.  At  still  another  point  the  Union 
cavalry  rode  into  the  river  and  spurred  their  hesitating 
horses  into  the  deep  water  for  a  long  swim  to  the  other 
shore.  As  thousands  of  struggling,  snorting  horses  bore 
these  human  forms  sitting  upright  upon  their  backs, 
nothing  seen  above  the  water's  surface  except  the  erect 
upper  portions  of  the  riders'  bodies  and  the  puffing  nos 
trils  of  the  horses  with  their  bushy  tails  spread  out  behind 
them,  the  scene  must  have  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
mass  of  moving  centaurs  rather  than  an  army  of  mounted 
soldiers.  Such  scenes,  however,  were  not  infrequent 
during  the  war — especially  with  the  noted  Confederate 
raiders  of  John  Morgan,  Jeb  Stuart,  Bedford  Forrest,  and 
Mosby.  With  his  army  safely  across  the  river,  General 
Rosecrans  pushed  heavy  columns  across  Raccoon  and 
Lookout  mountains  and  the  intervening  valley,  com 
pletely  turned  General  Bragg's  position,  and  compelled 
the  evacuation  of  Chattanooga  without  a  skirmish. 

It  would  be  the  grossest  injustice  to  General  Bragg 
to  hold  him  responsible  for  the  failure  to  prevent  Gen 
eral  Rosecrans  crossing  the  Tennessee.  An  army 
double  the  size  of  the  one  he  commanded  would  have 
been  wholly  insufficient  to  cover  the  stretch  of  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  of  river-frontage.  The  Union 
commander  could  have  laid  his  pontoons  and  forced  a 
passage  at  almost  any  point  against  so  attenuated  a 
line  of  resistance.  General  Bragg  was  not  only  one  of 
the  boldest  fighters  in  the  Confederate  army,  but  he 
was  an  able  commander.  Retreat  from  Chattanooga 
was  his  only  resource.  This  movement  was  made  not 


VICKSBURG  TO   CHICKAMAUGA      197 

an  hour  too  soon.  Rosecrans's  columns  were  sweeping 
down  from  the  eastern  Lookout  Bluffs,  and  would  speed 
ily  have  grasped  Bragg's  only  line  of  railroad  and  held 
his  only  avenues  of  escape.  As  the  Union  officers 
Thomas  and  McCook  came  down  the  eastern  slopes  of 
the  mountain  and  Crittenden  came  around  its  point  and 
into  Chattanooga,  Bragg  placed  his  army  in  position 
for  either  resisting,  retreating,  or  advancing.  He  de 
cided  to  assume  the  offensive  and  to  attack  the  Union 
forces  in  their  isolated  positions,  and  crush  them,  if  pos 
sible,  in  detail.  Longstreet  had  not  yet  arrived;  but 
had  Bragg's  plan  of  assault  been  vigorously  executed,  it 
now  seems  certain  that  he  would  have  won  a  great 
triumph  before  the  Union  army  could  have  been  con 
centrated  along  the  western  bank  of  the  Chickamauga. 
General  Rosecrans  himself  and  his  corps  commanders 
were  fully  alive  to  the  hazardous  position  of  his  army. 
Bragg's  aggressive  front  changed  the  policy  of  the 
Union  commander  from  one  of  segregation  for  pursuit 
to  one  of  concentration  for  defence.  Rapidly  and  skil 
fully  was  that  concentration  effected.  Boldly  and 
promptly  did  the  Confederates  advance.  The  next  scene 
on  which  the  curtain  rose  was  the  collision,  the  crash, 
the  slaughter  at  Chickamauga. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

CHICKAMAUGA 

One  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of  modern  times— Comparison  with  otker 
great  battles  of  the  world— Movements  of  both  armies  before  the 
collision— A  bird's-eye  view— The  night  after  the  battle— General 
Thomas's  brave  stand  — How  the  assault  of  Longstreet's  wing  was 
made— Both  sides  claim  a  victory. 

REARED  from  childhood  to  maturity  in  North 
Georgia,  I  have  been  for  fifty  years  familiar  with 
that  historic  locality  traversed  by  the  little  river  Chick- 
amauga,  which  has  given  its  name  to  one  of  the 
bloodiest  battles  of  modern  times.  Not  many  years 
after  the  Cherokee  Indians  had  been  transferred  to  their 
new  Western  home  from  what  was  known  as  Cherokee 
Georgia,  my  father  removed  to  that  portion  of  the  State. 
Here  were  still  the  fresh  relics  of  the  redskin  war 
riors,  who  had  fished  in  Chickamauga's  waters  and  shot 
the  deer  as  they  browsed  in  herds  along  its  banks. 
Every  locality  now  made  memorable  by  that  stupendous 
struggle  between  the  Confederate  and  Union  armies 
was  impressed  upon  my  boyish  memory  by  the  legends 
which  associated  them  with  deeds  of  Indian  braves. 
One  of  the  most  prominent  features  of  the  field  was  the 
old  Ross  House,  built  of  hewn  logs,  and  formerly  the 
home  of  Ross,  a  noted  and  fairly  well-educated  Chero 
kee  chief.  In  this  old  building  I  had  often  slept  at 
night  on  my  youthful  journeyings  with  my  father 
through  that  sparsely  settled  region.  Snodgrass  Hill, 

198 


CHICKAMAUGA  199 

Gordon's  and  Lee's  Mills,  around  which  the  battle  raged, 
the  La  Fayette  road,  across  which  the  contending  lines 
so  often  swayed,  and  the  crystal  Crawfish  Spring,  at 
which  were  gathered  thousands  of  the  wounded,  have 
all  been  so  long  familiar  to  me  that  I  am  encouraged 
to  attempt  a  brief  description  of  the  awful  and  inspiring 
events  of  those  bloody  September  days  in  1863.  Words, 
however,  cannot  convey  an  adequate  picture  of  such 
scenes ;  of  the  countless  costly,  daring  assaults ;  of  the 
disciplined  or  undisciplined  but  always  dauntless  cour 
age  ;  of  the  grim,  deadly  grapple  in  hand-to-hand  colli 
sions  ;  of  the  almost  unparalleled  slaughter  and  agony. 

An  American  battle  which  surpassed  in  its  ratio  of 
carnage  the  bloodiest  conflicts  in  history  outside  of  this 
country  ought  to  be  better  understood  by  the  American 
people.  Sharpsburg,  or  Antietam,  I  believe,  had  a 
larger  proportion  of  killed  and  wounded  than  any  other 
single  day's  battle  of  our  war;  and  that  means  larger 
than  any  in  the  world's  wars.  Chickamauga,  however, 
in  its  two  days  of  heavy  fighting,  brought  the  ratio  of 
losses  to  the  high-water  mark.  Judged  by  percentage 
in  killed  and  wounded,  Chickamauga  nearly  doubled 
the  sanguinary  records  of  Marengo  and  Austerlitz ; 
was  two  and  a  half  times  heavier  than  that  sustained 
by  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  at  Malplaquet ;  more  than 
double  that  suffered  by  the  army  under  Henry  of 
Navarre  in  the  terrific  slaughter  at  Coutras;  nearly 
three  times  as  heavy  as  the  percentage  of  loss  at  Sol- 
f erino  and  Magenta ;  five  times  greater  than  that  of  Na 
poleon  at  Wagram,  and  about  ten  times  as  heavy  as 
that  of  Marshal  Saxe  at  Bloody  Baucoux.  Or  if  we 
take  the  average  percentage  of  loss  in  a  number  of  the 
world's  great  battles— Waterloo,  Wagram,  Valmy,  Ma 
genta,  Solf erino,  Zurich,  and  Lodi— we  shall  find  by 
comparison  that  Chickamauga's  record  of  blood  sur 
passed  them  nearly  three  for  one.  It  will  not  do  to  say 


200    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

that  this  horrible  slaughter  in  our  Civil  War  was  due  to 
the  longer  range  of  our  rifles  nor  to  the  more  destruc 
tive  character  of  any  of  our  implements  of  warfare; 
for  at  Chickamauga  as  well  as  in  the  Wilderness  and  at 
Shiloh,  where  these  Americans  fell  at  so  fearful  a  rate, 
the  woodlands  prevented  the  hostile  lines  from  seeing 
each  other  at  great  distances  and  rendered  the  improved 
arms  no  more  effective  than  would  have  been  rifles  of 
short  range.  Some  other  and  more  reasonable  explana 
tion  must  be  found  for  this  great  disparity  of  losses  in 
American  and  European  wars.  There  is  but  one  possi 
ble  explanation— the  personal  character  and  the  conse 
crated  courage  of  American  soldiers.  At  Chickamauga 
thousands  fell  on  both  sides  fighting  at  close  quarters, 
their  faces  at  times  burnt  by  the  blazing  powder  at  the 
very  muzzles  of  the  guns. 

The  Federal  army  under  Rosecrans  constituted  the 
center  of  the  Union  battle  line,  which,  in  broadest  mili 
tary  sense,  stretched  from  Washington  City  to  New 
Orleans.  The  fall  of  Vicksburg  had  at  last  established 
Federal  control  of  the  Mississippi  along  its  entire  length. 
The  purpose  of  Rosecrans's  movement  was  to  penetrate 
the  South's  centre  by  driving  the  Confederates  through 
Georgia  to  the  sea.  Bragg,  to  whom  was  intrusted  for 
the  time  the  task  of  resisting  this  movement,  had  retired 
before  the  Union  advance  from  Chattanooga  to  a  point 
some  miles  south  of  the  Chickamauga,  and  the  Union 
forces  were  pressing  closely  upon  his  rear.  Bragg  had, 
however,  halted  and  turned  upon  Rosecrans  and  com 
pelled  him  to  retrace  his  steps  to  the  north  bank  of  the 
Chickamauga,  which,  like  the  Chickahominy  in  Vir 
ginia,  was  to  become  forever  memorable  in  the  Repub 
lic's  annals. 

In  order  to  obtain  a  clear  and  comprehensive  view  of 
the  ever-shifting  scenes  during  the  prolonged  battle, 
to  secure  a  mental  survey  of  the  whole  field  as  the 


CHICKAMAUGA  201 

marshalled  forces  swayed  to  and  fro,  charging  and 
countercharging,  assaulting,  breaking,  retreating,  re 
forming,  and  again  rushing  forward  in  still  more  des 
perate  assault,  let  the  reader  imagine  himself  on  some 
great  elevation  from  which  he  could  look  down  upon  that 
wooded,  undulating,  and  rugged  region. 

For  forty-eight  hours  or  more  the  marching  columns 
of  Bragg  were  moving  toward  Chattanooga  and  along 
the  south  bank  of  the  Chickamauga  in  order  to  cross  the 
river  and  strike  the  Union  forces  on  the  left  flank.  At 
the  same  time  Rosecrans  summoned  his  corps  from  dif 
ferent  directions  and  concentrated  them  north  of  the 
river.  Having  passed,  as  was  supposed,  far  below  the 
point  where  the  Union  left  rested,  Bragg's  columns,  in 
the  early  hours  of  the  19th  of  September,  crossed  the 
fords  and  bridges,  and  prepared  to  sweep  by  left  wheel 
on  the  Union  flank.  During  the  night,  however,  George 
H.  Thomas  had  moved  his  Union  corps  from  the  right  to 
this  left  flank.  Neither  army  knew  of  the  presence  of 
the  other  in  this  portion  of  the  woodland.  As  Bragg 
prepared  to  assail  the  Union  left,  Thomas,  feeling  his 
way  through  the  woods  to  ascertain  what  was  in  his 
front,  unexpectedly  struck  the  Southern  right,  held  by 
Forrest's  cavalry,  and  thus  inaugurated  the  battle.  For 
rest  was  forced  back;  but  he  quickly  dismounted  his 
men,  sent  the  horses  to  the  rear,  and  on  foot  stubbornly 
resisted  the  advance  of  the  Union  infantry.  Quickly  the 
Confederates  moved  to  Forrest's  support.  The  roar  of 
small  arms  on  this  extreme  flank  in  the  early  morning 
admonished  both  commanders  to  hurry  thither  their 
forces.  Bragg  was  forced  to  check  his  proposed  assault 
upon  another  portion  of  the  Union  lines  and  move  to  the 
defence  of  the  Confederate  right.  Rapidly  the  forces  of 
the  two  sides  were  thrown  into  this  unexpected  collision, 
and  rapidly  swelled  the  surging  current  of  battle.  The 
divisions  of  the  Union  army  before  whom  Forrest's  cavalry 


202  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

had  yielded  were  now  driven  back ;  but  other  Federals  sud 
denly  rushed  upon  Forrest's  front.  The  Southern  troops, 
under  Cheatham  and  Stewart,  Polk,  Buckrier,  and  Cle- 
burne,  hurried  forward  in  a  united  assault  upon  Thomas. 
Walthall'sMississippiansat  this  moment  werehurledupon 
King's  flank,  and  drove  his  brigade  in  confusion  through 
the  Union  lines;  and  as  Govan's  gray-clad  veterans 
simultaneously  assailed  the  Union  forces  under  Scribner, 
that  command  also  yielded.  The  Federal  battery  was 
captured,  and  the  tide  of  success  seemed  at  the  moment 
to  be  with  the  Confederates.  Fortune,  however,  always 
fickle,  was  especially  capricious  in  this  battle.  The 
Union  forces  farther  to  westward  held  their  ground  with 
desperate  tenacity.  General  Eosecrans,  the  Federal 
commander-in-chief,  rode  amidst  his  troops  as  they  hur 
ried  in  converging  columns  to  the  point  of  heaviest  fire, 
and  in  person  hurled  them  fiercely  against  the  steadfast 
Confederate  front.  The  shouts  and  yells  and  the  roll  of 
musketry  swelled  the  din  of  battle  to  a  deafening  roar. 
The  fighting  was  terrific.  Walthall's  Mississippians  at 
this  point  contended  desperately  with  attacks  in  front 
and  on  their  flank.  The  Ninth  Ohio,  at  double  quick 
and  with  mighty  shout,  rushed  upon  the  captured  Union 
battery  and  recovered  it.  The  Confederate  gunners  were 
killed  by  bayonets  as  they  bravely  stood  at  their  posts. 
Hour  after  hour  the  battle  raged,  extending  the  area  of 
its  fire  and  the  volume  of  its  tremendous  roar.  Here 
and  there  along  the  lines  a  shattered  command,  its  lead 
ing  officers  dead  or  wounded,  was  withdrawn,  reorgan 
ized,  and  quickly  returned  to  its  bloody  work.  Still 
farther  toward  the  Confederate  right,  Forrest  again 
essayed  to  turn  the  Union  left.  Charging  as  infantry, 
he  pressed  forward  through  a  tempest  of  shot  and 
neared  the  Union  flank,  when  the  Federal  batteries 
poured  upon  his  entire  line  rapid  discharges  of  grape, 
canister,  and  shell.  Round  after  round  on  flank  and 


CHICKAMAUGA  203 

front,  these  deadly  volleys  came  until  Forrest's  dissolv 
ing  lines  disappeared,  leaving  heaps  of  dead  near  the 
mouths  of  the  Union  guns.  Reforming  his  broken  ranks, 
Forrest,  with  Cheatham's  support,  again  rushed  upon  the 
Union  left,  the  impetuous  onset  bringing  portions  of  the 
hostile  lines  to  a  hand-to-hand  struggle.  Still  there  was 
no  decisive  break  in  the  stubborn  Union  ranks.  Coming 
through  woods  and  fields  from  the  other  wings,  the  flap 
ping  ensigns  marked  the  rapid  concentration  of  both 
armies  around  this  vortex  of  battle.  As  the  converging 
columns  met,  bayonet  clashed  with  bayonet  and  the 
trampled  earth  was  saturated  with  blood.  Here  and  there 
the  Union  line  was  broken  by  the  charges  of  Cheatham, 
Stewart,  and  Johnson,  but  was  quickly  reformed  and  re 
established  by  the  troops  under  Reynolds.  The  Union 
commands  of  Caiiin  and  Heg  were  swept  back  before 
the  fire  at  short  range  from  the  Southern  muskets ; 
but  as  the  Confederate  lines  again  advanced  and  leaped 
into  the  Union  trenches,  they  were  met  and  checked  by 
a  headlong  countercharge. 

The  La  Fayette  road  along  or  near  which  the  broken 
lines  of  each  army  were  rallied  and  reformed,  and  across 
which  the  surging  currents  of  fire  had  repeatedly  rolled, 
became  the  "  bloody  lane  "  of  Chickamauga. 

The  remorseless  war-god  at  this  hour  relaxed  his  hold 
on  the  two  armies  wrhose  life-blood  had  been  flowing 
since  early  morning.  Gradually  the  mighty  wrestlers 
grew  weary  and  faint,  and  silence  reigned  again  in  the 
shell-shivered  forest.  It  was,  however,  only  a  lull  in  the 
storm.  On  the  extreme  Union  left  the  restless  Confed 
erates  were  again  moving  into  line  for  a  last  and  tre 
mendous  effort.  The  curtain  of  night  slowly  descended, 
and  the  powder-blackened  bayonets  and  flags  over  the 
hostile  lines  were  but  dimly  seen  in  the  dusky  twilight. 
Wearily  the  battered  ranks  in  gray  moved  again  through 
the  bullet-scarred  woods,  over  the  dead  bodies  of  their 


204    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK 

brothers  who  fell  in  the  early  hours  and  whose  pale  faces 
told  the  living  of  coming  fate.  Nature  mercifully  refused 
to  lend  her  light  to  guide  the  unyielding  armies  to  fur 
ther  slaughter.  But  the  blazing  muzzles  of  the  rifles 
now  became  their  guides,  and  the  first  hour  of  darkness 
was  made  hideous  by  resounding  small  arms  and  their 
lurid  flashes.  Here  might  follow  a  whole  chapter  of 
profoundly  interesting  personal  incidents.  The  escape 
of  officers  of  high  rank,  who  on  both  sides  rode  with 
their  troops  through  the  consuming  blasts,  was  most 
remarkable ;  but  here  and  there  the  missiles  found  them. 
General  Preston  Smith,  of  Tennessee,  my  friend  in  boy 
hood,  was  among  the  victims.  A  Minie  ball  in  search 
of  his  heart  struck  the  gold  watch  which  covered  it.  The 
watch  was  shivered,  but  it  only  diverted  the  messenger 
of  death  to  another  vital  point.  The  inverted  casing, 
whirled  for  a  great  distance  through  the  air,  fell  at  the 
feet  of  a  Texan,  who  afterward  sent  it  to  the  bereaved 
family.  Near  by  was  found  the  Union  General  Baldwin, 
his  blue  uniform  reddened  with  his  own  blood  and  the 
blood  of  his  dead  comrades  around  him.  The  carnage 
was  appalling  and  sickening.  "  Enough  of  blood  and 
death  for  one  day ! "  was  the  language  of  the  bravest 
hearts  which  throbbed  with  anguish  at  the  slaughter 
of  the  19th  and  with  anxiety  as  to  the  morrow's 
work. 

Night  after  the  battle !  None  but  a  soldier  can  realize 
the  import  of  those  four  words.  To  have  experienced  it, 
felt  it,  endured  it,  is  to  have  witnessed  a  phase  of  war 
almost  as  trying  to  a  sensitive  nature  as  the  battle  itself. 
The  night  after  a  battle  is  dreary  and  doleful  enough  to  a 
victorious  army  cheered  by  triumph.  To  the  two  armies, 
whose  blood  was  still  flowing  long  after  the  sun  went 
down  on  the  19th,  neither  of  them  victorious,  but  each 
so  near  the  other  as  to  hear  the  groans  of  the  wounded 
and  dying  in  the  opposing  ranks,  the  scene  was  indescri- 


CHICKAMAUGA  205 

bably  oppressive.  Cleburne's  Confederates  had  waded  the 
river  with  the  water  to  their  arm-pits.  Their  clothing  was 
drenched  and  their  bodies  shivering  in  the  chill  north 
wind  through  the  weary  hours  of  the  night.  The  noise  of 
axe-blows  and  falling  trees  along  the  Union  lines  in  front 
plainly  foretold  that  the  Confederate  assault  upon  the 
Union  breastworks  at  the  coining  dawn  was  to  be  over  an 
abatis  of  felled  timber,  tangled  brush,  and  obstructing 
tree-tops.  The  faint  moonlight,  almost  wholly  shut  out 
by  dense  foliage,  added  to  the  weird  spell  of  the  sombre 
scene.  In  every  direction  were  dimly  burning  tapers, 
carried  by  nurses  and  relief  corps  searching  for  the 
wounded.  All  over  the  field  lay  the  unburied  dead,  their 
pale  faces  made  ghastlier  by  streaks  of  blood  and  clotted 
hair,  and  black  stains  of  powder  left  upon  their  lips  when 
they  tore  off  with  their  teeth  the  ends  of  deadly  car 
tridges.  Such  was  the  night  between  the  battles  of  the 
19th  and  20th  of  September  at  Chickamauga. 

At  nine  o'clock  on  that  Sabbath  morning,  September 
20,  as  the  church  bells  of  Chattanooga  summoned  its 
children  to  Sunday-school,  the  signal-guns  sounding 
through  the  forests  at  Chickamauga  called  the  bleeding 
armies  again  to  battle.  The  troops  of  Longstreet  had 
arrived,  and  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
Confederate  left,  D.  H.  Hill  to  the  Confederate  right. 
On  this  latter  wing  of  Bragg's  army  were  the  troops  of 
John  C.  Breckinridge,  W.  H.  T.  Walker,  Patrick  Cle- 
burne,  and  A.  P.  Stewart,  with  Cheatham  in  reserve. 
Confronting  them  and  forming  the  Union  left  were  the 
blue-clad  veterans  under  Baird,  Johnson,  Palmer,  and 
Eeynolds,  with  Gordon  Granger  in  reserve.  Beginning 
on  the  other  end  of  the  line  forming  the  left  wing  of 
Bragg's  battle  array  were  Preston,  Hindman,  and  Bush- 
rod  Johnson,  with  Law  and  Kershaw  in  reserve.  Con 
fronting  these,  beginning  on  the  extreme  Union  right 
and  forming  the  right  wing  of  Rosecrans's  army,  were 


206  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

Sheridan,  Davis,  "Wood,  Negley,  and  Brannan,  with 
Wilder  and  Van  Cleve  in  reserve. 

The  bloody  work  was  inaugurated  by  Breckinridge's 
assault  upon  the  Union  left.  The  Confederates,  with  a 
ringing  yell,  broke  through  the  Federal  line.  The  Con 
federate  General  Helm,  with  his  gallant  Kentuckians, 
rushed  upon  the  Union  breastworks  and  was  hurled 
back,  his  command  shattered.  He  was  killed  and  his 
colonels  shot  down.  Again  rallying,  again  assaulting, 
again  recoiling,  this  decimated  command  temporarily 
yielded  its  place  in  line.  The  Federals,  in  furious  coun 
tercharge,  drove  back  the  Confederates  under  Adams, 
and  his  body  was  also  left  upon  the  field. 

The  Chickamauga  River  was  behind  the  Confederates ; 
Missionary  Ridge  behind  the  Federals.  On  its  slopes 
were  Union  batteries  pouring  a  storm  of  shell  into  the 
forests  through  which  Bragg's  forces  were  bravely  charg 
ing.  As  the  Confederates  under  Adams  and  Helm  were 
borne  back,  the  clear  ring  of  Pat  Cleburne's  "Forward !" 
was  heard;  and  forward  they  moved,  their  alignment 
broken  by  tree-tops  and  tangled  brush  and  burning 
shells.  His  superb  troops  pressed  through  the  storm, 
only  to  recoil  under  the  concentrated  fire  of  artillery  and 
the  blazing  muzzles  of  small  arms  from  the  Federals  be 
hind  their  breastworks.  The  whole  Confederate  right, 
brigade  after  brigade,  in  successive  and  repeated  charges, 
now  furiously  assailed  the  Union  breastworks,  only  to 
recoil  broken  and  decimated.  Walthall,  with  his  fiery 
Mississippians,  was  repulsed,  with  all  his  field  officers 
dead  or  wounded  and  his  command  torn  into  shreds. 
The  gallant  Georgians  at  once  rushed  into  the  consum 
ing  blasts,  and  their  brilliant  leader,  Peyton  Colquitt, 
fell,  with  many  of  his  brave  boys  around  him,  close  to 
the  Union  breastworks.  The  Confederates  under  Walker, 
Cleburne,  and  Stewart  with  wild  shouts  charged  the 
works  held  by  the  determined  forces  of  Reynolds,  Bran- 


CHICKAMAUGA  207 

nan,  and  Baird.  Bravely  these  Union  troops  stood  to 
their  posts,  but  the  Southern  forces  at  one  point  broke 
through  their  front  as  Breckinridge  swept  down  upon 
flank  and  rear.  George  H.  Thomas,  the  "Rock  of 
Chickamauga,"  with  full  appreciation  of  the  crisis,  called 
for  help  to  hold  this  pivotal  position  of  the  Union  left. 
Van  Derveer's  moving  banners  indicated  the  quick  step  of 
his  troops  responding  to  Thomas's  call ;  and  raked  by 
flanking  fire,  this  dashing  officer  drove  Breckinridge  back 
and  relieved  the  Union  flank.  At  double  quick  and  with 
ringing  shout,  the  double  Union  lines  pressed  forward 
until,  face  to  face  and  muzzle  to  muzzle,  the  fighting  be 
came  fierce  and  desperate.  Charging  columns  of  blue  and 
gray  at  this  moment  rushed  against  each  other,  and  both 
were  shivered  in  the  fearful  impact.  The  superb  South 
ern  leader,  Deshler,  fell  at  the  head  of  his  decimated  com 
mand.  Go  van's  Mississippians  and  Brown's  Tennesseeans 
were  forced  back,  when  Bate,  also  of  Tennessee,  pressed 
furiously  forward,  captured  the  Union  artillery,  and 
drove  the  Federals  to  their  breastworks.  Again  and 
quickly  the  scene  was  changed.  Fresh  Union  batteries 
and  supporting  infantry  with  desperate  determination 
overwhelmed  and  drove  back  temporarily  the  Confed 
erates  led  by  the  knightly  Stewart.  Still  farther  west 
ward,  Longstreet  drove  his  column  like  a  wedge  into  the 
Union  right  center,  ripping  asunder  the  steady  line  of 
the  Federal  divisions.  In  this  whirlwind  of  battle, 
amidst  its  thunders  and  blinding  flashes,  the  heroic 
Hood  rode,  encouraging  his  men,  and  fell  desperately 
wounded.  His  leading  line  was  shattered  into  fragments, 
but  his  stalwart  supports  pressed  on  over  his  own  and 
the  Union  dead,  capturing  the  first  Union  line.  Halting 
only  to  reform  under  fearful  fire,  they  started  for  the 
second  Union  position.  Swaying,  reeling,  almost  break 
ing,  they  nevertheless  captured  that  second  line,  and 
drove  up  the  ridge  and  over  it  the  Federal  fighters,  who 


208    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

bravely  resisted  at  every  step.  Whizzing  shells  from 
opposing  batteries  crossed  each  other  as  they  tore  through 
the  forest,  rending  saplings  and  tumbling  severed  limbs 
and  tree-tops  amidst  the  surging  ranks.  Wilder's 
mounted  Union  brigade  in  furious  charge  swept  down 
upon  Manigault's  Confederates,  flank  and  rear,  and  drove 
them  in  wild  confusion ;  but  the  Union  horsemen  were 
in  turn  quickly  driven  from  the  field  and  beyond  the 
ridge.  Battery  after  battery  of  Union  artillery  was  cap 
tured  by  the  advancing  Confederates.  The  roaring  tide 
of  battle,  with  alternate  waves  of  success  for  both  sides, 
surged  around  Snodgrass  House  and  Horseshoe  Ridge. 
Before  a  furious  and  costly  Confederate  charge  the  whole 
extreme  Union  right  was  broken  and  driven  from  the 
field.  Negley's  shattered  lines  of  blue  abandoned  the 
position  and  retreated  to  Rossville  with  the  heavy  bat 
teries.  Davis,  with  decimated  Union  lines  under  Carlin 
and  Heg,  moved  into  Negley's  position  ;  but  these  were 
driven  to  the  right  and  rear.  Onward,  still  onward, 
swept  the  Confederate  columns ;  checked  here,  broken 
there,  they  closed  the  gaps  and  pressed  forward,  scatter 
ing  Van  Cleve's  veterans  in  wild  disorder.  Amidst  the 
shouting  Confederates  rode  their  leaders,  Stewart,  Buck- 
ner,  Preston,  Kershaw,  and  Johnson.  The  gallant  McCook 
led  in  person  a  portion  of  Sheridan's  troops  with  head 
long  fury  against  the  Southern  front ;  and  Sheridan  him 
self  rode  among  his  troops,  rallying  his  broken  lines  and 
endeavoring  to  check  the  resistless  Southern  advance. 
The  brave  and  brilliant  Lytle  of  the  Union  army,  soldier 
and  poet,  at  this  point  paid  to  valor  and  duty  the  tribute 
of  his  heart's  blood.  The  Confederate  momentum,  how 
ever,  scattered  these  decimated  Union  lines  and  compelled 
them  to  join  the  retreating  columns,  filling  the  roads  in 
the  rear. 

Rosecrans,  McCook,  and  Crittenden  rode  to  Chatta 
nooga  to  select  another  line  for  defence.     In  the  furious 


CHICKAMAUGA  209 

tempest  there  now  came  one  of  those  strange,  unex 
pected  lulls;  but  the  storm  was  only  gathering  fresh 
fury.  In  the  comparative  stillness  which  pervaded  the 
field  its  mutterings  could  still  be  heard.  Its  lightnings 
were  next  to  flash  and  its  thunders  to  roll  around 
Horseshoe  summit.  Along  that  crest  and  around  Snod- 
grass  House  the  remaining  troops  of  Rosecrans's  left 
wing  planted  themselves  for  stubborn  resistance— one 
of  the  most  stubborn  recorded  in  history.  To  meet  the 
assault  of  Longstreet's  wing,  the  brave  Union  General 
Brannan,  standing  upon  this  now  historic  crest,  rallied  the 
remnants  of  Croxton,  Wood,  Harker,  Beatty,  Stanley, 
Van  Cleve,  and  Buell;  but  up  the  long  slopes  the  ex 
ulting  Confederate  ranks  moved  in  majestic  march. 
As  they  neared  the  summit  a  sheet  of  flame  from  Union 
rifles  and  heavy  guns  blazed  into  their  faces.  Before  the 
blast  the  charging  Confederates  staggered,  bent  and 
broke ;  reforming  at  the  foot  of  the  slope,  these  daunt 
less  men  in  gray  moved  again  to  still  more  determined 
assault  upon  the  no  less  dauntless  Union  lines  firmly 
planted  on  the  crest.  Through  the  blinding  fires  they 
rushed  to  a  hand-to-hand  conflict,  breaking  here,  push 
ing  forward  there,  in  terrible  struggle.  Through  clouds 
of  smoke  around  the  summit  the  banners  and  bayonets 
of  Hindman's  Confederates  were  discovered  upon  the 
crest ;  when  Gordon  Granger  and  Steedman,  with  fresh 
troops,  hurried  from  the  Union  left  and,  joining  Van 
Derveer,  hurled  Hindman  and  his  men  from  this  citadel 
of  strength  and  held  it  till  the  final  Union  retreat.  With 
bayonets  and  clubbed  muskets  the  resolute  Federals 
pierced  and  beat  back  the  charging  Confederates,  cover 
ing  the  slopes  of  Snodgrass  Hill  with  Confederate  dead. 
Eoaring  like  a  cyclone  through  the  forest,  the  battle- 
storm  raged.  Battery  answered  battery,  deepening  the 
unearthly  din  and  belching  from  their  heated  throats  the 
consuming  iron  hail.  The  woods  caught  fire  from  the 


210    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

flaming  shells  and  scorched  the  bodies  of  dead  and  dying. 
At  the  close  of  the  day  the  Union  forces  had  been  driven 
from  every  portion  of  the  field  except  Snodgrass  Hill, 
and  as  the  sun  sank  behind  the  cliffs  of  Lookout  Moun 
tain,  hiding  his  face  from  one  of  the  bloodiest  scenes 
enacted  by  human  hands,  this  heroic  remnant  of  Rose- 
crans's  army  withdrew  to  the  rear  and  then  to  the  works ' 
around  Chattanooga,  leaving  the  entire  field  of  Chicka- 
mauga  to  the  battered  but  triumphant  and  shouting 
Confederates. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  the  controversy  as  to 
numbers  brought  into  action  by  Bragg  and  Rosecrans 
respectively.  General  Longstreet  makes  the  strength 
of  the  two  armies  practically  equal;  General  Boynton's 
figures  give  to  Bragg  superiority  in  numbers.  It  is 
sufficient  for  my  purpose  to  show  that  the  courage  dis 
played  by  both  sides  was  never  surpassed  in  civilized  or 
barbaric  warfare ;  that  there  is  glory  enough  to  satisfy 
both ;  that  the  fighting  from  first  to  last  was  furious ; 
that  there  was  enough  precious  blood  spilt  by  those 
charging  and  recoiling  columns  in  the  deadly  hand-to- 
hand  collisions  on  the  19th  and  20th  of  September  to 
immortalize  the  prowess  of  American  soldiery  and  make 
Chickamauga  a  Mecca  through  all  the  ages.1 

The  fact  that  both  sides  claim  a  victory  is  somewhat 
remarkable.  General  H.  V.  Boynton,  who  fought  under 
General  Rosecrans,  to  whose  vigorous  pen  and  wise 
labors  much  credit  is  due  for  the  success  of  the  great 
battle  park  at  Chickamauga,  and  who  is  one  of  the  ablest 
and  fairest  of  the  commentators  upon  this  memorable 
struggle,  has  devoted  much  time  and  labor  to  prove  that 
the  victory  was  with  the  Union  arms.  With  sincere 

1  Despatch  of  C.  A.  Dana  :  "  Chickamauga  is  as  fatal  a  name  in  our  history 
as  Bull  Run."  (See  page  111,  Confederate  Military  History,  Vol.  VIII, 
Tennessee ;  also  page  179,  Confederate  Military  History,  Vol.  IX,  Kentucky; 
also  page  358,  Confederate  Military  History,  Vol.  X,  Arkansas*.) 


CHICKAMAUGA  211 

friendship  for  General  Boynton  as  a  man  and  a  soldier, 
and  with  full  appreciation  of  his  ability  and  sense  of 
justice,  I  must  be  permitted  to  suggest  that  his  reason 
ing  will  scarcely  stand  the  test  of  unbiassed  historical 
criticism.  His  theory  is  that  although  General  Rose- 
crans  abandoned  the  field  after  two  days  of  determined 
and  desperate  fighting  in  the  effort  to  hold  it,  yet  his  re 
tirement  was  not  a  retreat,  but  an  advance.  "At  night 
fall,"  says  General  Boynton,  "the  army  advanced  to 
Chattanooga.  The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  on  its 
way  to  Chattanooga,  the  city  it  set  out  to  capture. 
Every  foot  of  it  [the  march]  was  a  march  in  advance 
and  not  retreat."  History  will  surely  ask  how  this 
retrograde  movement  into  the  trenches  at  Chattanooga 
can  fairly  be  considered  an  advance,  the  object  of  which 
was  "to  capture"  the  city,  when  that  city  had  been 
evacuated  by  Bragg  and  occupied  by  Rosecrans  ten 
days  before;  when  it  was  held  by  the  Union  forces 
already ;  and  when  that  city  was  then,  and  had  been  for 
many  days,  the  base  of  Union  supplies  and  operations. 
General  Boynton  ignores  the  dominating  fact  that  before 
the  battle  the  faces  of  the  Union  army  were  toward 
Atlanta  and  their  backs  were  upon  Chattanooga.  The 
battle  induced  Rosecrans  to  "  about  face  "  and  go  in  the 
opposite  direction.  The  same  reasoning  as  that  em 
ployed  by  General  Boynton  would  give  to  McClellan 
the  victory  in  the  seven  days'  battles  around  Richmond ; 
for  he,  too,  had  beaten  back  the  Confederates  at  certain 
points,  and  had  escaped  with  his  army  to  the  cover  of 
his  gunboats  at  Harrison's  Landing.  From  like  premises 
the  Confederates  might  claim  a  victory  for  Lee  at  Gettys 
burg,  and  that  his  movement  to  the  rear  was  an  advance. 
General  Pope  might  in  like  manner  claim  that  the  rout 
at  second  Manassas  was  a  victory,  and  his  retreat  to 
Washington  an  advance  which  saved  the  Capitol.  To 
my  thought,  such  victories  are  similar  to  that  achieved  by 


212  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

the  doctor  who  was  asked :  "  Well,  doctor,  how  is  the 
mother  and  the  new  baby!"  " They  are  both  dead,"  re 
plied  the  doctor;  "but  I  have  saved  the  old  man."  The 
advance  on  Atlanta  was  checked;  Chickamauga  was 
lost ;  but,  like  the  doctor's  old  man,  Chattanooga  was 
saved.  General  Boynton  is  too  sensitive  in  this  matter. 
All  great  commanders  in  modern  times,  the  most  con 
summate  and  successful,  have  had  their  reverses.  Gen 
eral  Rosecrans  had  unfortunate  opposition  at  Washing 
ton,  and  his  record  as  commander  under  such  conditions 
is  brilliant  enough  to  take  the  sting  out  of  his  defeat  at 
Chickamauga.  His  ability  as  strategist,  his  skill  in  ma 
noeuvre,  and  his  vigor  in  delivering  battle  are  universally 
recognized.  The  high  court  of  history  will  render  its  ver 
dict  in  accordance  with  the  facts.  These  facts  are  simple 
and  indisputable.  First,  Bragg  threw  his  army  across 
Rosecrans's  front,  checked  his  advance,  and  forced  him  to 
take  position  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Chickamauga. 
Second,  Bragg  assailed  Rosecrans  in  his  chosen  strong 
hold,  drove  him  from  the  entire  field,  and  held  it  in 
unchallenged  possession.  Third,  at  the  end  of  the  two 
days'  battle,  which  in  courage  and  carnage  has  scarcely 
a  parallel,  as  the  two  wings  of  the  Confederate  army 
met  on  the  field,  their  battle-flags  waved  triumphantly 
above  every  gory  acre  of  it;  and  their  ringing  shouts 
rolled  through  Chickamauga's  forests  and  rose  to  heaven, 
a  mighty  anthem  of  praise  and  gratitude  to  God  for  the 
victory. 


CHAPTER  XV 

MISSIONAKY  RIDGE—  TKIUNE   DISASTER 

Why  General  Bragg  did  not  pursue  Rosecrans  after  Chickamauga— 
Comparison  of  the  Confederates  at  Missionary  Ridge  with  the  Greeks 
at  Marathon—  The  Battle  above  the  Clouds—  Heroic  advance  by 
Walthall's  Mississippians—  General  Grant's  timely  arrival  with  ree'n- 
forcements—  The  way  opened  to  Atlanta. 


ENERAL  LEE  was  not  a  believer  in  the  infallibility 
of  newspapers  as  arbiters  of  military  movements. 
With  full  appreciation  of  their  enormous  power  and 
vital  agency  in  arousing,  guiding,  and  ennobling 
public  sentiment,  his  experience  with  them  as  military 
critics  of  his  early  campaigns  in  the  West  Virginia 
mountains  had  led  him  to  question  the  wisdom  of  some 
of  their  suggestions.  In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Lee  he  once 
wrote,  in  half-serious,  half-jocular  strain,  that  he  had 
been  reading  the  papers,  and  that  he  would  be  glad  if 
they  had  entire  control  and  could  fix  matters  to  suit 
themselves,  adding,  "General  Floyd  has  three  editors 
on  his  staff,  and  I  hope  something  may  be  done  to 
please  them." 

General  Bragg  had  been  subjected  to  a  somewhat 
similar  fire  from  the  rear  for  not  following  General 
Rosecrans,  after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  and  driving 
him  into  the  river  or  across  it.  That  he  did  not  do  so, 
and  thus  make  the  battle  of  Missionary  Ridge  impossi 
ble  and  save  his  army  from  its  crushing  defeat  there, 
was  a  disappointment  not  only  to  the  watchful  and  ex- 

213 


214    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

pectant  press,  but  to  the  Southern  people,  and  to  some 
of  the  leaders  who  fought  under  him  at  Chickamauga. 
A  calm  review  of  the  situation,  and  the  facts  as  they 
existed  at  the  time,  will  demonstrate,  I  think,  that  his 
failure  to  follow  and  assault  General  Rosecrans  in  his 
strong  works  at  Chattanooga  was  not  only  pardonable, 
but  prudent  and  wise.  The  Confederate  victory  at 
Chickamauga,  which  was  the  most  conspicuous  antecedent 
of  Missionary  Ridge,  was  achieved  after  two  days  of 
desperate  fighting  and  at  tremendous  cost.  While  the 
Confederates  had  inflicted  heavy  losses  upon  the  Union 
army,  they  had  also  suffered  heavy  losses.  Of  the  thirty- 
three  thousand  dead  and  wounded,  practically  one  half 
wore  gray  uniforms.  For  every  Union  regiment  broken 
and  driven  in  disorder  from  the  field,  there  was  a  Con 
federate  regiment  decimated  and  shattered  in  front  of 
the  breastworks.  The  final  retreat  of  the  Union  army 
was  immediately  preceded  by  successful  repulses  and 
Countercharges,  and  by  the  most  determined  stand 
against  the  desperate  and  repeated  Confederate  assaults 
on  Snodgrass  Hill.  General  Bragg's  right  wing  had 
been  partially  shattered  in  front  of  the  Union  field  works 
in  the  woods  at  Chickamauga,  and  his  left  wing  held  in 
check  till  near  nightfall  at  Snodgrass  Hill.  It  seems  to 
me,  therefore,  that  these  facts  constitute  almost  a  mathe 
matical  demonstration— at  least  a  moral  assurance— that 
his  army  must  have  failed  in  an  immediate  march  across 
the  open  plain  through  the  network  of  wire  spread  for 
Confederate  feet,  in  the  face  of  wide-sweeping  Union 
artillery,  and  against  the  infinitely  stronger  works  at 
Chattanooga.  In  whatever  other  respects  General 
Bragg  may  be  regarded  by  his  critics  as  worthy  of 
blame,  it  seems  manifestly  unfair  to  charge  that  he 
blundered  in  not  pursuing  Rosecrans  after  Chicka 
mauga.  Far  more  just  would  be  criticisms  of  General 
McClellan  for  his  refusal  to  renew  the  attack  iii  the 


MISSIONARY  RIDGE  215 

open  after  Sharpsburg  (Antietam),  or  of  General  Meade 
for  not  accepting  the  gauge  of  battle  tendered  him  by 
Lee  after  the  repulse  of  Gettysburg ;  or  of  General  Lee 
himself  for  not  pressing  Burnside  after  Fredericksburg, 
Hooker  after  Chancellorsville,  and  Pope  after  the  rout  at 
second  Manassas. 

These  reflections  are  submitted  in  the  interest  of  truth 
and  in  justice  to  General  Bragg's  memory.  They  are 
submitted  after  the  most  patient  and  painstaking  in 
vestigation,  and  I  must  confess  that  they  are  in  direct 
conflict  with  the  impressions  I  had  myself  received  and 
the  opinions  which  I  entertained  before  investigation. 

One  other  remark  as  to  General  Bragg's  halt  after  the 
Confederate  victory  at  Chickamauga.  His  beleaguering 
of  the  Union  army  for  a  whole  month  in  its  stronghold 
at  Chattanooga  is  by  no  means  conclusive  evidence  that 
he  blundered  in  his  failure  to  immediately  assault  General 
Rosecrans  in  his  intrenchments.  While  admitting  that, 
however  shattered  the  ranks  of  the  victor,  the  ranks  of 
the  beaten  army  are  always  in  still  worse  condition,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  assaults  against  breastworks, 
as  a  rule,  are  most  expensive  operations.  Pemberton 
had  been  beaten  in  a  series  of  engagements  before  he 
was  driven  into  his  works  at  Vicksburg;  yet  with  his 
small  force  he  successfully  repelled  for  months  every  as 
sault  made  upon  those  breastworks  by  General  Grant. 
General  Lee's  hitherto  victorious  veterans  recoiled  before 
the  natural  battlements  of  the  Round  Tops  and  Cemetery 
Ridge  at  Gettysburg.  On  June  27,  1864,  General 
Sherman  assaulted  with  tremendous  power  the  strong 
position  held  by  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston's  retreating 
army ;  but  General  Sherman's  loss  was  nearly  ten  for 
every  Confederate  killed  or  wounded.  The  experience 
of  General  Nathaniel  P.  Banks  in  his  assault  upon  the 
Confederate  forces  bellied  their  breastworks  at  Port 
Hudson  furnishes  possibly  a  still  more  convincing  proof 


216  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

of  this  truth.  Page  after  page  of  similar  illustrations 
might  be  taken  from  the  records  of  our  Civil  War.  It 
may  be  true  that  Chickamauga  had  brought  temporary 
demoralization  to  portions  of  Rosecrans's  army ;  it  may 
be  true  that  General  Grant  did  say  to  General  Sherman 
at  Chattanooga,  "  The  men  of  Thomas's  army  have  been 
so  demoralized  by  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  that  I  fear 
they  cannot  be  got  out  of  their  trenches  to  assume  the 
offensive."  But  when  he  witnessed  their  superb  assault 
upon  Missionary  Ridge  he  must  have  changed  his  opin 
ion.  It  may  be  true  —  it  is  true— that  had  General  Bragg 
assailed  the  Union  army  after  Chickamauga,  he  would 
have  had  the  advantage  of  the  momentum  and  ardor 
imparted  to  a  column  in  a  charge ;  but  he  would  also 
have  been  compelled  to  overcome  the  feeling  of  security 
imparted  to  troops  protected  by  heavy  breastworks 
and  the  increased  effectiveness  of  their  fire.  General 
Longstreet  assailed  the  breastworks  at  Knoxville  after 
the  Chickamauga  battle ;  but  his  superb  battalions  were 
powerless  before  them. 

General  Bragg's  mistake,  therefore,  it  seems  to  me, 
was  not  his  decision  to  besiege  rather  than  assault  the 
Union  army  in  Chattanooga,  but  it  was  the  weakening 
of  his  lines  by  detaching  for  other  service  such  large 
bodies  as  to  reduce  his  army  to  a  mere  skeleton  of  its 
former  strength.  While  Bragg  was  reducing  his  troops 
to  an  estimated  force  of  about  25,000  men  by  sending 
off  Longstreet  and  Buckner  and  the  Confederate  cavalry, 
General  Grant,  who  had  displaced  Rosecrans  and  as 
sumed  command  at  Chattanooga,  was  increasing  his 
army  in  and  around  that  city  to  100,000  or  more.  By 
his  official  report  it  seems  that  after  the  arrival  of  his 
two  corps  from  the  East  and  General  Sherman's  army 
from  the  West,  he  had  on  the  25th  of  November,  when 
the  advance  was  ordered,  about  86,000  men,  armed  and 
equipped,  ready  for  the  assault.  I  recall  no  instance  in 


MISSIONARY  RIDGE  217 

the  history  of  our  war,  and  few  in  any  other  war,  where, 
on  so  contracted  a  field,  was  marshalled  for  battle  so 
gigantic  and  puissant  an  army. 

More  than  two  thousand  years  ago  occurred  a  scene 
which  Missionary  Ridge  recalls.  On  the  plains  of  Mar 
athon,  Datis,  under  the  orders  of  King  Darius,  assembled 
his  army  of  Persian  warriors,  whose  number  did  not 
differ  widely  from  those  commanded  at  Chattanooga  by 
General  Grant.  Confronting  Datis  was  the  little  army 
of  the  Greeks  under  Miltiades,  the  great  Athenian,  in 
whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of  Hercules.  Posted  along 
the  Attican  range  of  mountains,  this  little  army  of  Athe 
nians  looked  down  upon  the  vast  hosts  assembled  against 
them  on  the  Marathon  plain  below  as  Bragg's  small 
force  of  Confederates  stood  on  Missionary  Ridge  and  the 
slopes  of  Lookout  Mountain,  contemplating  the  magnifi 
cent  but  appalling  panorama  of  Grant's  overwhelming 
legions  moving  from  their  works  and  wheeling  into 
lines  of  battle.  The  two  scenes  —  the  one  at  Marathon, 
the  other  at  Chattanooga— present  other  strikingly  sim 
ilar  features.  The  ground  on  which  the  respective  armies 
under  Datis  and  Grant  were  assembled  bore  a  close  re 
semblance  the  one  to  the  other.  Crescent-shaped  Mara 
thon,  washed  by  the  winding  bay,  had  its  counterpart  in 
that  crescent  formed  at  Chattanooga  by  the  Tennessee 
as  it  flows  around  the  city. 

The  Greeks  at  Marathon  and  the  Confederates  at 
Missionary  Ridge  were  each  moved  by  a  kindred  im 
pulse  of  self-defence.  The  Athenian  Republicans  under 
Miltiades,  as  they  stood  upon  the  bordering  hills  around 
Marathon,  realized  that  the  spirits  of  departed  Grecian 
heroes  were  hovering  above  them,  and  resolved  not  to 
survive  the  loss  of  Athenian  freedom  or  the  enslave 
ment  of  their  people.  They  were  the  foremost  men  of 
their  time.  The  mountain  on  which  they  stood  was 
sacred  ground ;  every  stone  and  scene  was  an  inspiration. 


218  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

The  American  Republicans  of  Southern  birth  and 
training  who  stood  with  Bragg  on  Missionary  Ridge 
were  imbued  with  an  ardor  none  the  less  strong  and 
sacred.  At  this  point,  however,  appear  vast  contrasts. 
The  Grecian  commander  was  to  fight  Persians:  the 
Southern  leader  was  to  meet  Americans.  The  hireling 
hordes  which  swarmed  on  the  plains  of  Marathon  served 
not  from  choice  but  from  compulsion.  The  Persian 
array  was  a  vast  conglomeration  of  iricohesive  elements, 
imposing  in  aspect  but  weak  in  determined  battle :  the 
army  which  Bragg  was  to  meet  was  composed  of  patri 
otic  volunteers,  every  man  impelled  by  a  thorough 
belief  in  the  righteousness  of  his  cause.  At  Marathon 
it  was  the  resolute,  compact,  and  self-sacrificing  Grecian 
phalanxes  against  the  uncertain,  disjointed,  and  self- 
seeking  hordes  of  Persian  plunderers.  It  was  heroes 
against  hirelings,  the  glorious  sons  of  Athenian  free 
dom  against  the  submissive  serfs  of  triumphant  wrong 
and  of  kingly  power.  At  Missionary  Ridge  it  was 
patriot  against  patriot,  inherited  beliefs  against  inher 
ited  beliefs,  liberty  as  embodied  in  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States  against  liberty  as  embodied  in  the  perpetuity  of 
the  Union.  The  Persians  represented  organized  vin- 
dictiveness.  The  haughty  monarch  Darius  had  resolved 
to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  free  people  of  Athens. 
In  his  besotted  pride  and  blasphemy,  he  implored  the 
gods  to  give  him  strength  to  punish  these  freemen  of 
Greece.  His  servants  were  instructed  constantly  to 
repeat  to  him  as  he  gorged  himself  with  costly  viands, 
"  Sire,  remember  the  Athenians !  "  The  army  and 
commanders  whom  he  sent  to  Marathon  were  fit  agents 
for  the  execution  of  so  diabolical  a  purpose.  Numbers, 
therefore,  did  not  count  for  much  in  the  conflict  with 
such  men  as  Miltiades  led  against  them.  The  Federals 
and  Confederates,  however,  who  met  each  other  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  were  of  the  same  race  and  of  kindred 


MISSIONARY  RIDGE  219 

impulse.  They  gathered  their  strength  and  ardor  from 
the  memories  and  example  of  the  same  rebelling  fathers. 
In  such  a  contest  numbers  did  tell,  and  gave  to  General 
Grant  the  moral  assurance  of  victory  even  before  the 
battle  was  joined. 

The  Union  assault  on  Missionary  Ridge  was  heralded 
by  the  "  Battle  above  the  Clouds,"  as  the  fight  on  Lookout 
Mountain  is  called.  Important  events  had  transpired 
which  precipitated  that  conflict  amidst  the  heavy  vapors 
around  Lookout  Mountain.  These  events  rendered  the 
capture  of  that  citadel  of  strength  possible,  if  not  easy. 
Nearly  10,000  Federals  under  General  Hooker  had  forced 
a  passage  of  the  Tennessee  below  Lookout  Point,  driv 
ing  back  the  two  Confederate  regiments,  numbering 
about  1000  men,  commanded  by  the  gallant  Colonel 
Gates,  of  Alabama,  who  fell  severely  wounded  while 
making  a  most  stubborn  resistance.  The  night  battle  at 
Wauhatchie  had  also  been  fought  and  the  small  Confed 
erate  force  had  been  defeated.  It  was  in  this  fire  in  the 
darkness  that  the  brave  little  Billy  Bethune  of  Georgia 
made  his  debut  as  a  soldier  and  his  exit  on  an  Irishman's 
shoulder.  The  Irishman  who  was  carrying  Billy  off  the 
field  was  asked  by  his  major,  "  Who  is  that  you  are  car 
rying  to  the  rear?"  "Billy  Bethune,  sir."  "Is  he 
wounded  !  "  "  Yis,  sir ;  he  's  shot  in  the  back,  sir."  This 
was  more  than  Billy  could  endure,  and  he  shouted  his 
indignant  answer  to  the  Irishman,  "  Major,  he  's  an  in 
fernal  liar;  I  am  shot  across  the  back,  sir." 

The  Hon.  John  Russell  Young,  in  his  book  "  Around 
the  World  with  General  Grant,"  states  that  this  great 
Union  general  once  said :  "  The  battle  of  Lookout 
Mountain  (the  l  Battle  above  the  Clouds ')  is  one  of  the 
romances  of  the  war.  There  was  no  such  battle,  and  no 
action  worthy  to  be  called  a  battle,  on  Lookout  Mountain, 
It  is  all  poetry." 


220    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

I  shall  not  enter  into  the  controversy  as  to  the  rank 
which  should  be  assigned  to  that  brief  but  noted  conflict. 
Whatever  may  be  its  proper  designation,  it  was  a  most 
creditable  affair  to  both  sides.  Reared  among  the 
mountains,  I  can  readily  appreciate  the  peculiar  atmos 
pheric  conditions  and  the  impressive  character  of  the 
scenes  which  met  those  contending  forces  on  the  rugged 
mountain-side.  Many  times  in  my  boyhood  I  have 
stood  upon  those  mountain-tops  in  the  clear  sunlight, 
while  below  were  gathered  dense  fogs  and  mists,  some 
times  following  the  winding  courses  of  the  streams, 
often  covering  the  valleys  like  a  vast  sea  and  obscuring 
them  from  view.  As  stated  in  another  chapter,  General 
Hooker  was  probably  not  apprised  of  the  fact  that  there 
confronted  him  in  the  forenoon  only  WalthalPs  Missis- 
sippians,— less  than  1500  men  against  10,000,— and  in  the 
afternoon  only  the  shattered  remnants  of  this  brave 
little  brigade,  joined  by  three  regiments  of  Pettus  and 
the  small  brigade  of  Moore,  in  all  probably  not  more 
than  2500  men.  The  conception  of  moving  upon  an  un 
known  force  located  in  such  a  stronghold  was  bold  and 
most  creditable  to  the  high  soldierly  qualities  of  General 
Hooker  and  the  gallant  men  who  moved  at  his  com 
mand  through  the  fogs  and  up  the  steeps,  where  gorges 
and  boulders  and  jutting  cliffs  made  almost  as  formid 
able  barriers  as  those  which  opposed  the  American  sol 
diers  at  Chapultepec.  General  Walthall,  who  commanded 
the  little  band  of  resisting  Confederates,  was  compelled 
to  stretch  them  out  along  the  base  and  up  the  sides  of 
the  mountain  until  his  command  covered  a  front  so  long 
as  to  reduce  it  practically  to  a  line  of  skirmishers.  Far 
beyond  the  west  flank  of  this  attenuated  line,  Hooker's 
plan  of  battle  for  this  unique  field  had  placed  a  heavy 
force  under  enterprising  and  daring  leaders.  Up  the 
mountain-side  the  troops  worked  their  way,  clutching 
bushes  and  the  branches  of  trees  in  order  to  lift  them- 


MISSIONARY   RIDGE  221 

selves  over  the  rugged  ledges,  firing  as  they  rose,  cap 
turing  small  bodies  here  and  there,  and  driving  back  the 
stubborn  little  band  of  Confederates.  The  Union  lines 
in  front  and  on  WalthalPs  right  threatened  to  make 
prisoners  of  his  men,  who  retreated  from  ledge  to  ledge, 
pouring  their  fire  into  Hooker's  troops  and  directing 
their  aim  only  at  the  flashes  of  the  Union  rifles  as  they 
gleamed  through  the  dense  fog. 

The  resistance  of  WalthalPs  Mississippians  was  pro 
nounced  by  the  distinguished  Union  leader,  General 
George  H.  Thomas,  "  obstinate  " ;  by  General  Bragg,  the 
Confederate  commander-in-chief,  as  "  desperate,"  and  by 
the  brave  Steedman,  of  the  Union  army,  as  "  sublimely 
heroic."  More  emphatic  than  all  of  these  well-merited 
tributes  was  the  eloquent  fact  that  but  600  were  left  of 
the  1500  carried  into  the  fight. 

General  Grant's  arrival  at  Chattanooga  with  his  ree'n- 
forcements  was  as  timely  a  relief  for  Thomas  and  his 
troops  as  the  coming  of  Buell's  forces  had  previously 
been  for  the  succor  of  General  Grant's  army  at  Pittsburg 
Landing  or  Shiloh. 

The  interchange  of  courtesies  which  became  so  com 
mon  during  the  war  at  no  time  interfered  with  the  stern 
demands  of  duty.  As  General  Manderson,  one  of  the 
most  gallant  officers  of  the  Union  army,  rode  near  the 
Confederate  picket-lines  in  front  of  Chattanooga,  he 
received  a  salutation  almost  as  courteous  as  they  would 
have  given  to  one  of  their  Confederate  generals;  yet 
they  were  ready  to  empty  their  deadly  rifles  into  the 
bosoms  of  his  troops  when  they  moved  in  battle  array 
against  them.  General  Manderson  himself  in  these 
words  gives  account  of  the  Confederate  courtesy  shown 
him:  "A  feeling  of  amity,  almost  fraternization,  had 
existed  between  the  picket-lines  in  front  of  Wood's 
division  for  many  days.  In  the  early  morning  of  that 
day,  being  in  charge  of  the  left  of  our  picket-line 


222   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

[Union],  I  received  a  turnout  and  salute  from  the  Con 
federate  reserve  as  I  rode  the  line."  This  was  on  the 
very  day  of  the  great  battle.  On  the  river  below,  the 
Confederates  would  gladly  have  divided  their  own 
meagre  rations  with  any  individual  soldier  in  Thomas's 
army,  yet  they  were  attempting  to  shoot  down  every 
team  and  sink  every  boat  which  sought  to  bring  the 
needed  supplies  to  the  beleaguered  and  hungry  com 
mands  suffering  in  the  city. 

Major  Nelson  of  Indiana,  who,  like  all  truly  brave 
soldiers,  has  exhibited  in  peace  the  same  high  qualities 
which  distinguished  him  in  war,  gave  me  the  following 
incident,  which  occurred  at  another  point,  and  admirably 
illustrates  the  spirit  of  the  best  men  in  the  two  armies. 
Major  Nelson  was  himself  in  command  of  the  Union 
picket-lines.  The  Confederate  officer  who  stood  at  night 
in  the  opposing  lines  near  him  called  out : 

"  Hello  there,  Yank !  Have  you  got  any  coffee  over 
there?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Major  Nelson.  "  Come  over  and  get 
some." 

"  We  would  like  to  come,  but  there  are  fourteen  of  us 
on  this  post." 

"All  right,  Johnny;  bring  them  all  along.  We'll 
divide  with  you.  Come  over,  boys,  and  get  your  coffee." 

The  Johnnies  accepted.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  they  sat  down  in  the  trenches  with  the  boys  in 
blue,  and  told  war  jokes  on  each  other  while  drinking 
their  coffee  together.  Looking  at  his  watch,  the  major 
said: 

"  It 's  time  for  you  Johnnies  to  get  away  from 
here.  The  inspector  will  be  along  soon,  and  he  will  put 
every  one  of  you  in  prison,  and  me,  too,  if  he  catches  us 
at  this  business." 

The  Confederates  at  once  sprang  to  their  feet  and  left 
with  this  salutation : 


MISSIONARY  RIDGE  223 

"  Good  night,  Yanks ;  we  are  greatly  obliged  to  you. 
We  have  had  a  nice  visit  and  enjoyed  your  coffee  very 
much.  We  hope  you  will  get  a  good  rest  to-night ;  we 
are  going  to  give  you  hell  to-morrow." 

When  General  Grant  arrived  at  Chattanooga  and  had 
surveyed  the  field,  he  sent  an  order  to  General  Sherman, 
who  was  rebuilding  the  Memphis  and  Charleston  Rail 
road,  to  stop  this  work  and  move  his  army  rapidly 
eastward  toward  Chattanooga.  This  order,  it  is  said,  was 
carried  in  a  canoe  down  the  Tennessee  River,  over  Muscle 
Shoals,  and  for  a  distance  of  probably  two  hundred  miles. 
The  daring  soldier  who  bore  it  was  Corporal  Pike,  a 
noted  scout.  On  the  very  day  of  Sherman's  crossing 
the  Tennessee  at  Chattanooga,  Grant  ordered  the  ad 
vance  upon  Missionary  Ridge.  To  this  ridge  the  Con 
federates  had  been  withdrawn  from  their  eyry  on  Point 
Lookout,  and  the  forces  of  Hooker  swept  down  upon 
Bragg's  left  flank.  Against  Bragg's  other  flank  General 
Sherman's  army  was  concentrated.  In  General  Grant's 
admirable  plan  of  the  battle,  the  movement  by  Hooker 
against  the  Confederate  left,  and  the  attack  by  Thomas 
upon  its  centre,  were  intended  as  mere  demonstrations, 
while  the  heavy  columns  of  Sherman  were  to  turn  its 
right  flank  and  completely  envelop  it,  thus  making  the 
capture  of  the  bulk  of  Bragg's  small  army  probable,  or 
rendering  his  retreat  extremely  hazardous.  But,  as  is 
often  the  case  in  battle,  the  unexpected  transpired. 
Across  the  line  of  Sherman's  advance,  from  which  the 
greatest  results  were  expected,  was  a  railroad  cut  and 
tunnel  from  which  the  Confederates  suddenly  rushed 
upon  the  head  of  the  Union  column,  checking,  breaking, 
and  routing  it.  In  the  meanwhile,  Grant,  who  stood  on 
Orchard  Knob  opposite  the  Confederate  centre,  had 
ordered  Thomas  to  move  at  a  given  signal  and  seize  the 
Confederate  rifle-pits  at  the  base  of  the  ridge.  As  the 
six  shots  from  Orchard  Knob  sounded  the  signal  for  the 


224  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

advance,  the  blue  line  of  Thomas  swept  across  the  plain 
and  into  the  rifle-pits,  making  prisoners  of  many  of  the 
advanced  Confederate  skirmishers.  This  movement,  as 
above  stated,  like  Hooker's  upon  Lookout  Mountain  on 
the  previous  day,  was  intended  by  General  Grant  only 
as  a  "demonstration,"  the  purpose  being  only  to  take 
the  rifle-pits  as  a  diversion  to  aid  Sherman  in  his  attack 
upon  Bragg's  right.  The  seasoned  veterans  of  Thomas, 
however,  were  wiser  in  this  instance,  or  at  least  bolder, 
than  the  generals.  Was  it  a  misapprehension  of  orders, 
was  it  recklessness,  or  was  it  the  habit  acquired  in  battle 
of  never  halting  when  ordered  forward  under  fire  until 
their  lines  were  broken  against  the  solid  fronts  of  oppos 
ing  forces?  General  Grant  was  amazed  when  he  saw 
those  lines  pass  the  rifle-pits  in  furious  charge  toward 
the  crest  of  Missionary  Ridge.  Both  Thomas  and  Gran 
ger  denied  having  given  the  order  for  such  a  movement. 
It  was,  however,  too  late  to  halt  the  troops ;  and  most 
fortunate  was  it  for  the  Union  army  that  the  movement 
could  not  be  recalled.  Those  brave  men,  without  orders, 
mounted  to  the  summit  of  Missionary  Ridge,  leaped  into 
Bragg's  intrenchments,  piercing  his  lines  in  the  centre, 
doubling  them  to  the  right  and  left,  and  forcing  the  front 
in  confusion  to  the  rear.  The  capture  of  6000  Southern 
prisoners,  several  pieces  of  artillery,  and  many  thousand 
stands  of  small  arms  was  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  Con 
federacy.  In  its  exhausted  condition  these  could  not  be 
replaced  by  new  levies  and  new  guns.  Infinitely  greater, 
however,  was  the  loss  of  the  prestige  which  Bragg's  army 
had  gained  by  the  brilliant  victory  at  Chickamauga  just 
two  months  and  five  days  before.  Still  greater  was  the 
loss  which  Missionary  Ridge  inflicted  upon  the  Southern 
cause  by  opening  the  way  to  Atlanta.  The  bold  and 
successful  stand  made  after  Missionary  Ridge  by  Bragg's 
forces  at  Ringgold  was  but  a  temporary  check  to  the 
advance  of  the  Union  forces. 


MISSIONARY  RIDGE  225 

As  Hooker's  forces  moved  from  the  mountain-top  up 
Bragg's  left,  a  Confederate  officer,  on  his  Kentucky 
thoroughbred,  galloped  into  this  portion  of  the  Union 
line.  It  was  young  Breckinridge,  looking  for  his  father, 
General  John  C.  Breckinridge,  who  was  commanding  a 
division  of  Confederates.  Instead  of  his  father,  he  found 
General  James  A.  Williamson  commanding  Union  troops. 
He  lost  his  Kentucky  racer  and  exchanged  his  staff 
position  for  that  of  prisoner  of  war. 

General  Bragg,  with  patriotic  purpose,  and  with  the 
hope  that  some  other  commander  might  serve  the  cause 
more  efficiently,  asked  to  be  relieved  from  the  command 
of  the  army,  and  his  request  was  granted.  General 
Rosecrans  had  perhaps  a  still  more  pathetic  fate.  He 
had  inaugurated  and  conducted  against  General  Bragg 
during  the  summer  a  strategic  campaign,  pronounced  by 
General  Meigs  "the  greatest  operation  in  our  war." 
During  the  progress  of  this  campaign  General  George  H. 
Thomas  and  the  corps  commanders  of  the  Union  army 
seemed  unanimous  and  enthusiastic  in  the  commendation 
and  support  of  it.  Yet  after  its  culmination  General 
Rosecrans  was  removed  from  the  command  of  his  army. 
From  the  standpoint  of  unbiassed  criticism  the  future 
historian  will  probably  have  some  trouble  in  finding 
sufficient  reasons  for  this  removal.  It  is  not  my  province 
to  participate  in  the  discussion  of  this  interesting  ques 
tion.  As  a  soldier,  however,  who  fought  on  the  Southern 
side,  and  who  has  studied  with  much  interest  this  cam 
paign  of  General  Rosecrans,  I  wish  to  leave  upon  record 
two  or  three  inquiries  which  it  seems  to  me  history  must 
necessarily  make. 

First,  how  was  it  possible  for  the  transfer  of  Long- 
street's  troops  from  Lee  to  Bragg  to  have  escaped  the 
attention  of  Secretary  Stanton  or  General  Halleck  ?  This 
movement  was  reported  to  General  Rosecrans  by  Gen 
eral  Peck  of  the  Union  army  stationed  in  North  Carolina. 


226  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

It  was  suggested  as  probable  by  the  Hon.  Murat  Hal- 
stead  in  the  columns  of  his  paper.  General  H.  Y.  Boyri- 
ton  states  in  the  most  positive  terms  that  Colonel 
Jacques,  of  the  Seventy-third  Illinois,  tried  in  vain  for 
ten  days  to  gain  admittance  in  Washington  to  commu 
nicate  the  fact  of  Longstreet's  movements  to  Halleck 
and  Stanton,  and  then,  without  accomplishing  it,  re 
turned  in  time  to  fight  with  his  regiment  at  Chicka- 
mauga. 

Another  question  which  history  will  probably  ask  is 
why  no  reinforcements  were  sent  to  the  Union  army 
while  Rosecraiis  was  in  command  and  when  Longstreet 
was  moving  to  strengthen  General  Bragg,  arid  yet  after 
Rosecrans's  removal  immense  reinforcements  were  sent, 
although  both  Longstreet  and  Buckner  had  then  been 
detached  from  that  immediate  vicinity. 

The  heavy  concentration  of  Union  forces  at  Chatta 
nooga,  and  the  consequent  defeat  of  Bragg's  army  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  was  a  master  stroke ;  but  justice  to 
General  Rosecrans  seems  to  demand  the  above  reflec 
tions.  In  the  light  of  his  previous  strategic  campaign 
and  of  his  fight  at  Chickamauga,  where,  without  ree'n- 
forcements,  he  so  stubbornly  resisted  Bragg's  assaults 
while  both  Longstreet  and  Buckner  were  present,  history 
will  surely  ask :  "  What  would  General  Rosecrans  prob 
ably  have  accomplished  with  his  own  army  heavily  ree'n- 
forced,  while  Bragg's  was  reduced  by  the  absence  of  both 
Longstreet's  and  Buckner's  commands?" 

Missionary  Ridge  had  added  its  quota  of  cloud  to  the 
Confederate  firmament,  and  intensified  the  gloom  of  the 
succeeding  winter.  It  had  laid  bare  the  Confederacy's 
heart  to  the  glistening  points  of  Union  bayonets,  and 
vastly  increased  the  sufferings  of  the  Confederate  armies. 
Vicksburg,  Gettysburg,  Missionary  Ridge !  Distinct  de 
feats  to  different  armies  in  distant  sections,  they 
nevertheless  constituted  a  common,  a  triune  disaster 


MISSIONARY  RIDGE  227 

to  the  Confederate  cause.  The  great  crevasses  in 
the  Mississippi's  levees  constitute  one  agency  of  ruin 
when  they  unite  their  floods  and  deluge  the  delta. 
So  these  breaks  in  the  gray  lines  of  defence  con 
stituted,  I  repeat,  one  common  defeat  to  Southern 
arms.  There  is,  however,  this  noteworthy  defect 
in  the  completeness  of  the  simile:  The  Mississippi 
levees  could  be  rebuilt ;  the  material  for  reconstruct 
ing  them  was  inexhaustible;  and  the  waters  would 
soon  disappear  without  any  human  effort  to  drive  them 
back.  The  Confederacy's  lines,  on  the  contrary,  could 
not  be  rebuilt.  The  material  for  reconstructing  them 
was  exhausted.  The  blue-crested  flood  which  had  broken 
those  lines  was  not  disappearing.  The  fountains  which 
supplied  it  were  exhaustless.  It  was  still  coming  with 
an  ever-increasing  current,  swelling  higher  and  growing 
more  resistless.  This  triune  disaster  was  especially  de 
pressing  to  the  people  because  it  came  like  a  blight  upon 
their  hopes  which  had  been  awakened  by  recent 
Confederate  victories.  The  recoil  of  Lee's  army  from 
its  furious  impact  against  the  blue  barrier  of  Meade's 
lines  at  Gettysburg  was  the  first  break  in  the  tide 
of  its  successes.  Beginning  with  the  marvellous  panic 
and  rout  of  McDowell's  troops  at  Bull  Run  in  1861, 
there  followed  in  almost  unbroken  succession  wave 
after  wave  of  Confederate  triumph.  The  victory 
of  Joseph  E.  Johnston  over  General  McClellan  at 
Seven  Pines,  or  Fair  Oaks ;  the  rapidly  recurring  vic 
tories  of  Lee  in  the  seven  days'  battles  around  Rich 
mond  over  the  same  brilliant  commander;  the  rout  of 
General  Pope's  army  at  second  Manassas,  or  second  Bull 
Run ;  the  bloody  disaster  inflicted  by  Lee  upon  Burn- 
side's  forces  at  Fredericksburg  and  upon  Hooker's  splen 
did  army  at  Chancellorsville,  together  with  Stonewall 
Jackson's  Napoleonic  campaign  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia, 
had  constituted  a  chain  of  Confederate  successes  with 


228  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

scarcely  a  broken  link.  Even  at  Sharpsburg,  or  Antietam, 
in  1862,  the  result  was  of  so  indecisive  a  character  as  to 
leave  that  battle  among  those  that  are  in  dispute.  The 
Federals  claim  it  as  a  Union  victory  on  the  ground  that 
Lee  finally  abandoned  the  field  to  McClellan.  The  Con 
federates  place  it  among  the  drawn  battles  of  the  war, 
and  base  their  claim  on  these  facts :  that  McClellan  was 
the  aggressor,  and  declined  to  renew  his  efforts,  although 
the  Confederates  invited  him  to  do  so  by  flying  their 
flags  in  his  front  during  the  whole  of  the  following  day ; 
that  although  the  battle-tide  swayed  to  and  fro,  with 
alternate  onsets  and  recoils  on  the  different  hotly  con 
tested  portions  of  the  field,  yet  in  the  main  the  Federal 
assaults  were  successfully  repelled ;  that  McClellan  failed 
to  drive  Lee  from  his  general  line,  and  that  whatever  ad 
vance  he  made  against  Lee  was  more  than  counterbal 
anced  by  Jackson's  capture  of  the  entire  Union  forces 
which  held  the  left  of  the  Union  army  at  Harper's  Ferry. 


CHAPTEE  XVI 

WINTER   ON   THE   EAPIDAN 

In  camp  near  Clark's  Mountain— Religious  awakening— Revival  services 
throughout  the  camps — General  Lee's  interest  in  the  movement — 
Southern  women  at  work — Extracts  from  General  Lee's  letters  to  his 
wife— Influence  of  religion  on  the  soldiers'  character. 

rilHE  winter  of  1863-64  on  the  banks  of  the  Eapidan 
A  was  passed  in  preparation  by  both  armies  for  that 
wrestle  of  giants  which  was  to  begin  in  May  in  the  Wil 
derness  and  end  at  Appomattox  in  the  following  April. 

My  camp  and  quarters  were  near  Clark's  Mountain, 
from  the  top  of  which  General  Lee  so  often  surveyed 
with  his  glasses  the  white-tented  city  of  the  Union  army 
spread  out  before  us  on  the  undulating  plain  below.  A 
more  peaceful  scene  could  scarcely  be  conceived  than 
that  which  broke  upon  our  view  day  after  day  as  the 
rays  of  the  morning  sun  fell  upon  the  quiet,  wide-spread 
ing  Union  camp,  with  its  thousands  of  smoke  columns 
rising  like  miniature  geysers,  its  fluttering  flags  mark 
ing,  at  regular  intervals,  the  different  divisions,  its  still 
ness  unbroken  save  by  an  occasional  drum-beat  and 
the  clear  ringing  notes  of  bugles  sounding  the  familiar 
calls. 

On  the  southern  side  of  the  Eapidan  the  scenes  were, 
if  possible,  still  less  warlike.  In  every  Confederate  camp 
chaplains  and  visiting  ministers  erected  religious  altars, 
around  which  the  ragged  soldiers  knelt  and  worshipped 
the  Heavenly  Father  into  whose  keeping  they  committed 

229 


230    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

themselves  and  their  cause,  and  through  whose  all- wise 
guidance  they  expected  ultimate  victory.  The  religious 
revivals  that  ensued  form  a  most  remarkable  and  im 
pressive  chapter  of  war  history.  Not  only  on  the  Sab 
bath  day,  but  during  the  week,  night  after  night  for  long 
periods,  these  services  continued,  increasing  in  attend 
ance  and  interest  until  they  brought  under  religious 
influence  the  great  body  of  the  army.  Along  the  moun 
tain-sides  and  in  the  forests,  where  the  Southern  camps 
were  pitched,  the  rocks  and  woods  rang  with  appeals  for 
holiness  and  consecration,  with  praises  for  past  mercies 
and  earnest  prayers  for  future  protection  and  deliver 
ance.  Thousands  of  these  brave  followers  of  Southern 
banners  became  consistent  and  devoted  soldiers  of  the 
cross.  General  Lee,  who  was  a  deeply  pious  man,  mani 
fested  a  constant  and  profound  interest  in  the  progress 
of  this  religious  work  among  his  soldiers.  He  usually 
attended  his  own  church  when  services  were  held  there, 
but  his  interest  was  confined  to  no  particular  denomina 
tion.  He  encouraged  all  and  helped  all. 

Back  of  the  army  on  the  farms,  in  the  towns  and  cities, 
the  fingers  of  Southern  women  were  busy  knitting  socks 
and  sewing  seams  of  coarse  trousers  and  gray  jackets 
for  the  soldiers  at  the  front.  From  Mrs.  Lee  and  her 
daughters  to  the  humblest  country  matrons  and  maidens, 
their  busy  needles  were  stitching,  stitching,  stitching, 
day  and  night.  The  anxious  commander  thanked  them 
for  their  efforts  to  bring  greater  comfort  to  the  cold  feet 
and  shivering  limbs  of  his  half-clad  men.  He  wrote  let 
ters  expressing  appreciation  of  the  bags  of  socks  and 
shirts  as  they  came  in.  He  said  that  he  could  almost 
hear,  in  the  stillness  of  the  night,  the  needles  click  as 
they  flew  through  the  meshes.  Every  click  was  a  prayer, 
every  stitch  a  tear.  His  tributes  were  tender  and  con 
stant  to  these  glorious  women  for  their  labor  and  sacri 
fices  for  Southern  independence.  His  unselfish  solicitude 


WINTER  ON  THE  RAPIDAN  231 

for  his  men  was  marked  and  unvarying.  He  sent  to  the 
suffering  privates  in  the  hospitals  the  delicacies  con 
tributed  for  his  personal  use  from  the  meagre  stores  of 
those  who  were  anxious  about  his  health.  If  a  handful 
of  real  coffee  came  to  him,  it  went  in  the  same  direction, 
while  he  cheerfully  drank  from  his  tin  cup  the  wretched 
substitute  made  from  parched  corn  or  beans.  He  was 
the  idolized  commander  of  his  army  and  at  the  same 
time  the  sympathizing  brother  of  his  men. 

General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  the  brilliant  nephew  of  the 
great  chieftain,  gives  extracts  from  his  private  letters, 
some  of  which  I  insert  in  this  connection  because  they 
illustrate  the  character  of  Robert  E.  Lee  as  a  man.  These 
excerpts  are  of  greater  value  because  they  are  taken  from 
letters  addressed  to  Mrs.  Lee  and  meant  for  her  eyes 
alone. 

In  1861,  from  West  Virginia,  General  Lee  concluded 
a  letter  to  Mrs.  Lee  in  these  words : 

I  travelled  from  Staunton  on  horseback.  A  part  of  the  road 
I  traveled  over  in  the  summer  of  1840  on  my  return  from  St. 
Louis  after  bringing  you  home.  If  any  one  had  told  me  that 
the  next  time  I  travelled  that  road  would  have  been  on  my  pres 
ent  errand  I  should  have  supposed  him  insane.  I  enjoyed  the 
mountains  as  I  rode  along.  The  valleys  are  peaceful,  the 
scenery  beautiful.  What  a  glorious  world  Almighty  God  has 
given  us !  How  thankless  and  ungrateful  we  are  ! 

Denied  the  privilege  of  being  with  his  family  at  the 
Christmas  reunion,  he  wrote : 

I  shall  pray  the  great  God  to  shower  His  blessings  upon  you 
and  unite  you  all  in  His  courts  above.  .  .  .  Oh,  that  I  were  more 
worthy  and  more  thankful  for  all  that  he  has  done  and  continues 
to  do  for  me  ! 

From  the  southern  coast  in  February,  1862,  he  wrote 
Mrs.  Lee : 


232  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

My  constant  prayer  is  to  the  Giver  of  all  victory.  .  .  .  The 
contest  must  be  long  and  the  whole  country  has  to  go  through 
much  suffering.  It  is  necessary  we  should  be  more  humble, 
less  boastful,  less  selfish,  and  more  devoted  to  right  and  justice 
to  all  the  world.  .  .  .  God,  I  hope,  will  shield  us  and  give  us 
success. 

After  his  brilliant  victory  over  McClellan  in  the  seven 
days'  battles  around  Richmond,  he  wrote  Mrs.  Lee : 

I  am  filled  with  gratitude  to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  all  the 
mercies  he  has  extended  to  us.  Our  success  has  not  been  as 
complete  as  we  could  desire,  but  God  knows  what  is  best  for  us. 

If  Wellington,  the  Iron  Duke,  ever  said,  as  is  reported : 
"  A  man  of  fine  Christian  sensibilities  is  totally  unfit  for 
the  position  of  a  soldier,"  he  must  have  had  in  contem 
plation  the  mere  soldier  of  fortune— the  professional 
soldier,  and  not  the  class  of  men  who  fight  only  because 
duty  compels  them  to  fight.  The  lofty  Christian  char 
acter,  the  simple,  earnest  Christian  faith,  the  consistent, 
unostentatious  Christian  life  and  humility  of  spirit  of 
both  Lee  and  Jackson,  furnish  an  eloquent  and  crushing 
rebuke  to  Wellington's  suggestions.  Jackson  fought 
while  praying  and  prayed  while  planning.  Lee's  heart 
was  full  of  supplication  in  battle,  while  his  lips  were 
silent.  In  sunshine  and  in  storm,  in  victory  and  in  defeat, 
his  heart  turned  to  God.  Chapter  after  chapter  might 
be  filled  with  these  extracts  from  his  private  letters  and 
with  accounts  of  acts  consistent  with  his  letters,  illus 
trating  the  fact  that  great  soldiers  may  be  the  tenderest 
men  and  the  truest  Christian  believers.  The  self-denial, 
the  stainless  manhood,  the  unfaltering  faith  in  the  sav 
ing  truths  of  the  Bible,  the  enormous  will  power,  sub 
missive  as  a  child  to  God's  will,  —  the  roundness  and 
completeness  of  such  a  life,  should  be  a  model  and  an 
inspiration  to  the  young  men  of  our  whole  country. 


WINTER   ON   THE   RAPIDAN  233 

Christian  men  and  women,  indeed  all  who  truly  love 
this  country  and  realize  how  essential  to  its  permanence 
and  freedom  is  the  character  of  its  citizenship,  must  find 
no  little  comfort  in  the  facts  recorded  in  the  last  few 
paragraphs.  The  reward  promised  by  mythology  to  the 
brave  who  fell  in  battle  was  a  heaven,  not  of  purity  and 
peace,  but  of  continued  combat  with  their  foes  and  a  life 
of  eternal  revelry.  Such  a  religion  could  only  degrade 
the  soldiers  who  fought  and  increase  the  depravity  of 
the  people.  It  was  a  religion  of  hate,  of  vindictiveness, 
of  debauchery.  The  religious  revivals  which  occurred 
in  the  Southern  camps,  on  the  contrary,  while  banishing 
from  the  heart  all  unworthy  passions,  prepared  the  sol 
diers  for  more  heroic  endurance;  lifted  them,  in  a 
measure,  above  their  sufferings ;  nerved  them  for  the 
coming  battles ;  exalted  them  to  a  higher  conception  of 
duty;  imbued  them  with  a  spirit  of  more  cheerful  sub 
mission  to  the  decrees  of  Providence ;  sustained  them 
with  a  calmer  and  nobler  courage;  and  rendered  them 
not  insensible  to  danger,  but  superior  to  it.  The  life 
we  now  live  is  not  the  only  life;  what  we  call  death 
is  not  an  eternal  sleep;  the  soldier's  grave  is  not 
an  everlasting  prison,  but  the  gateway  to  an  endless  life 
beyond :  and  this  belief  in  immortality  should  be  culti 
vated  in  armies,  because  of  the  potent  influence  it  must 
exert  in  developing  the  best  characteristics  of  the  soldier. 
Aside  from  any  regard  for  the  purely  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  men,  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  Europe 
have  shown  a  commendable  worldly  wisdom  in  making 
religious  literature  an  important  part  of  an  army's  equip 
ment. 

No  one,  who  calmly  and  fairly  considers  the  condi 
tions  which  surrounded  the  soldiers  of  the  Confederate 
armies  when  they  were  disbanded  and  the  manner  in 
which  these  men  met  those  conditions,  can  doubt  that 
their  profound  religious  convictions,  which  were  deep- 


234    EEMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

ened  in  the  camps,  had  a  potent  influence  upon  their 
conduct  in  the  trying  years  which  followed  the  war. 
Reared  under  a  government  of  their  own  choosing, 
born  and  bred  under  laws,  State  and  federal,  enacted 
by  their  own  representatives,  habituated  for  four  years 
to  the  watchful  eyes  and  guarding  bayonets  of  army 
sentinels,  accustomed  to  the  restraints  of  the  most  rigid 
regulations,  they  found  themselves  at  the  close  of  the  war 
suddenly  confronted  by  conditions  radically,  totally 
changed.  Their  State  governments  were  overthrown ; 
State  laws  were  in  abeyance ;  of  chosen  representatives 
they  had  none.  Sheriffs,  other  officers  of  the  court,  and 
the  courts  themselves  were  gone.  Penniless  and  home 
less  as  thousands  of  them  were,  with  the  whole  financial 
system  in  their  States  obliterated,  the  whole  system  of 
labor  revolutionized,  without  a  dollar  or  the  possibility 
of  borrowing,  they  went  bravely  and  uncomplainingly 
to  work.  They  did  not  rob,  they  did  not  steal,  they  did 
not  beg,  they  did  not  murmur  at  their  fate.  With  all 
the  restraints  to  which  they  had  been  subjected,  both 
as  citizens  and  soldiers,  not  only  relaxed  but  entirely 
removed,  they  kept  the  peace,  lived  soberly  and  circum 
spectly,  each  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  maimed 
and  helpless  comrades  or  to  fight  again  for  the  enforce 
ment  of  law  or  in  defence  of  the  restored  Republic. 
Who  will  deny  that  these  facts,  which  are  in  no  partic 
ular  and  in  no  degree  over-stated,  but  fall  far  short  of 
the  reality,  demonstrate  the  power  of  religious  convic 
tions  over  the  conduct  of  these  disbanded  soldiers 
transformed  into  citizens  under  conditions  so  changed, 
so  trying,  so  desperate? 


CHAPTER   XVII 

THE  WILDEKNESS— BATTLE  OF  MAY  5 

Beginning  of  the  long  fight  between  Grant  and  Lee— Grant  crosses  the 
Rapidan— First  contact  of  the  two  armies— E well's  repulse— A 
rapid  countercharge— A  strange  predicament— The  Union  centre 
broken— Unprecedented  movement  which  saved  the  Confederate 
troops. 

LEE  and  Grant,  the  foremost  leaders  of  the  opposing 
armies,  were  now  to  begin  a  campaign  which  was 
to  be  practically  a  continuous  battle  for  eleven  months. 
Grant  had  come  from  his  campaigns  in  the  Southwest 
with  the  laurels  of  Fort  Donelson,  Shiloh,  Vicksburg, 
and  Missionary  Eidge  on  his  brow.  Lee  stood  before 
him  with  a  record  as  military  executioner  unrivalled  by 
that  of  any  warrior  of  modern  times.  He  had,  at 
astoundingly  short  intervals  and  with  unvarying  regu 
larity,  decapitated  or  caused  the  official  "  taking  off  "  of 
the  five  previously  selected  commanders-in-chief  of  the 
great  army  which  confronted  him. 

A  more  beautiful  day  never  dawned  on  Clark's  Moun 
tain  and  the  valley  of  the  Rapidan  than  May  5,  1864. 
There  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  and  the  broad  expanse 
of  meadow-lands  on  the  north  side  of  the  little  river  and 
the  steep  wooded  hills  on  the  other  seemed  "  apparelled 
in  celestial  light '?  as  the  sun  rose  upon  them.  At  an 
early  hour,  however,  the  enchantment  of  the  scene  was 
rudely  broken  by  bugles  and  kettledrums  calling  Lee's 
veterans  to  strike  tents  and  "  fall  into  line."  The  ad- 

235 


236    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

vent  of  spring  brought  intense  relief  to  the  thinly  clad 
and  poorly  fed  Confederates.  The  Army  of  Northern  Vir 
ginia  had  suffered  so  much  during  the  preceding  winter 
that  there  was  general  rejoicing  at  its  close,  although 
every  man  in  that  army  knew  that  it  meant  the  opening 
of  another  campaign  and  the  coming  of  Grant's  thor 
oughly  equipped  and  stalwart  corps.  The  reports  of 
General  Lee's  scouts  were  scarcely  necessary  to  our 
appreciation  of  the  fact  that  the  odds  against  us  were 
constantly  and  rapidly  increasing :  for  from  the  high 
land  which  bordered  the  southern  banks  of  the  Rapidan 
one  could  almost  estimate  the  numbers  that  were  being 
added  to  Grant's  ranks  by  the  growth  of  the  city  of 
tents  spreading  out  in  full  view  below.  The  Confeder 
ates  were  profoundly  impressed  by  the  situation,  but 
they  rejected  as  utterly  unworthy  of  a  Christian  sol 
diery  the  doctrine  that  Providence  was  on  the  side  of 
the  heaviest  guns  and  most  numerous  battalions.  To 
an  unshaken  confidence  in  their  great  leader  and  in 
each  other  there  had  been  added  during  the  remarkable 
religious  revivals  to  which  I  have  referred  a  spiritual 
vitality  which  greatly  increased  among  Lee's  soldiers  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  and  of  consecration.  Committing 
themselves  and  their  cause  to  God,  with  honest  and 
fervent  prayers  for  His  protection  and  guidance,  they 
hopefully  and  calmly  awaited  the  results  of  the  coming 
battle. 

On  the  morning  of  May  4,  1864,  shortly  after  mid 
night,  General  Grant  began  the  movement  which  was 
soon  to  break  the  long  silence  of  that  vast  and  dense 
woodland  by  the  roaring  tumult  of  battle.  This  advance 
by  General  Grant  inaugurated  the  seventh  act  in  the 
"  On  to  Richmond  "  drama  played  by  the  armies  of  the 
Union.  The  first  advance,  led  by  General  McDowell, 
had  been  repelled  by  Beauregard  and  Johnston  at  Bull 
Run ;  the  next  five,  under  the  leadership  respectively  of 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  5  23? 

McClellan,  Pope,  Burnside,  Hooker,  and  Meade,  had 
been  repelled  by  Lee.  He  had  not  only  defeated  these 
noted  leaders,  but  caused  their  removal  from  command 
of  the  Union  army. 

Crossing  the  Rapidan  with  but  little  resistance,  Gen 
eral  Grant  spent  the  4th  of  May  in  placing  his  army  in 
position.  Pushing  toward  Richmond  the  head  of  his 
column,  which  was  to  form  the  left  of  his  battle  line,  in 
order  to  throw  himself,  if  possible,  between  Lee  and  the 
Confederate  capital,  General  Grant  promptly  faced  his 
army  in  the  direction  from  which  Lee  must  necessarily 
approach  and  moved  to  the  front  as  rapidly  as  the 
tangled  wilderness  would  permit.  Lee,  in  the  meantime, 
was  hurrying  his  columns  along  the  narrow  roads  and 
throwing  out  skirmish-lines,  backed  by  such  troops  as 
he  could  bring  forward  quickly  in  order  to  check 
Grant's  advance  and  to  ascertain  whether  the  heaviest 
assault  was  to  be  made  upon  the  Confederate  centre  or 
upon  the  right  or  left  flank.  Field-glasses  and  scouts 
and  cavalry  were  equally  and  almost  wholly  useless  in 
that  dense  woodland.  The  tangle  of  underbrush  and 
curtain  of  green  leaves  enabled  General  Grant  to  con 
centrate  his  forces  at  any  point,  while  their  movements 
were  entirely  concealed.  Overlapping  the  Confederate 
lines  on  both  flanks,  he  lost  no  time  in  pushing  to  the 
front  with  characteristic  vigor. 

My  command  brought  up  the  rear  of  the  extreme  left 
of  Lee's  line,  which  was  led  by  Swell's  corps.  Long  be 
fore  I  reached  the  point  of  collision,  the  steady  roll  of 
small  arms  left  no  doubt  as  to  the  character  of  the 
conflict  in  our  front.  Despatching  staff  officers  to  the 
rear  to  close  up  the  ranks  in  compact  column,  so  as  to 
be  ready  for  any  emergency,  we  hurried  with  quickened 
step  toward  the  point  of  heaviest  fighting.  Alternate 
confidence  and  apprehension  were  awakened  as  the 
shouts  of  one  army  or  the  other  reached  our  ears.  So 


238   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR 

distinct  in  character  were  these  shouts  that  they  were 
easily  discernible.  At  one  point  the  weird  Confederate 
"yell"  told  us  plainly  that  Swell's  men  were  advancing. 
At  another  the  huzzas,  in  mighty  concert,  of  the  Union 
troops  warned  us  that  they  had  repelled  the  Confederate 
charge;  and  as  these  ominous  huzzas  grew  in  volume 
we  knew  that  Grant's  lines  were  moving  forward.  Just 
as  the  head  of  my  column  came  within  range  of  the 
whizzing  Minies,  the  Confederate  yells  grew  fainter,  and 
at  last  ceased ;  and  the  Union  shout  rose  above  the  din 
of  battle.  I  was  already  prepared  by  this  infallible  ad 
monition  for  the  sight  of  EwelPs  shattered  forces  retreat 
ing  in  disorder.  The  oft-repeated  but  spasmodic  efforts 
of  first  one  army  and  then  the  other  to  break  through 
the  opposing  ranks  had  at  last  been  ended  by  the  sudden 
rush  of  Grant's  compact  veterans  from  the  dense  covert 
in  such  numbers  that  E well's  attenuated  lines  were 
driven  in  confusion  to  the  rear.  These  retreating  divi 
sions,  like  broken  and  receding  waves,  rolled  back  against 
the  head  of  my  column  while  we  were  still  rapidly  ad 
vancing  along  the  narrow  road.  The  repulse  had  been 
so  sudden  and  the  confusion  so  great  that  practically  no 
resistance  was  now  being  made  to  the  Union  advance; 
and  the  elated  Federals  were  so  near  me  that  little  time 
was  left  to  bring  my  men  from  column  into  line  in  order 
to  resist  the  movement  or  repel  it  by  countercharge. 
At  this  moment  of  dire  extremity  I  saw  General  Ewell, 
who  was  still  a  superb  horseman,  notwithstanding  the 
loss  of  his  leg,  riding  in  furious  gallop  toward  me,  his 
thoroughbred  charger  bounding  like  a  deer  through  the 
dense  underbrush.  With  a  quick  jerk  of  his  bridle-rein 
just  as  his  wooden  leg  was  about  to  come  into  unwelcome 
collision  with  my  knee,  he  checked  his  horse  and  rapped 
out  his  few  words  with  characteristic  impetuosity.  He 
did  not. stop  to  explain  the  situation;  there  was  no  need 
of  explanation.  The  disalignment,  the  confusion,  the 


THE  WILDERNESS-MAY  5  239 

rapid  retreat  of  our  troops,  and  the  raining  of  Union 
bullets  as  they  whizzed  and  rattled  through  the  scrub- 
oaks  and  pines,  rendered  explanations  superfluous,  even 
had  there  been  time  to  make  them.  The  rapid  words  he 
did  utter  were  electric  and  charged  with  tremendous  sig 
nificance.  "General  Gordon,  the  fate  of  the  day  depends 
on  you,  sir,"  he  said.  "  These  men  will  save  it,  sir,"  I 
replied,  more  with  the  purpose  of  arousing  the  enthu 
siasm  of  my  men  than  with  any  well-defined  idea  as  to 
how  we  were  to  save  it.  Quickly  wheeling  a  single  regi 
ment  into  line,  I  ordered  it  forward  in  a  countercharge, 
while  I  hurried  the  other  troops  into  position.  The  sheer 
audacity  and  dash  of  that  regimental  charge  checked,  as 
I  had  hoped  it  would,  the  Union  advance  for  a  few  mo 
ments,  giving  me  the  essential  time  to  throw  the  other 
troops  across  the  Union  front.  Swiftly  riding  to  the 
centre  of  my  line,  I  gave  in  person  the  order :  "  Forward ! " 
With  a  deafening  yell  which  must  have  been  heard  miles 
away,  that  glorious  brigade  rushed  upon  the  hitherto 
advancing  enemy,  and  by  the  shock  of  their  furious  on 
set  shattered  into  fragments  all  that  portion  of  the  com 
pact  Union  line  which  confronted  my  troops. 

At  that  moment  was  presented  one  of  the  strangest 
conditions  ever  witnessed  upon  a  battle-field.  My  com 
mand  covered  only  a  small  portion  of  the  long  lines  in 
blue,  and  not  a  single  regiment  of  those  stalwart  Federals 
yielded  except  those  which  had  been  struck  by  the 
Southern  advance.  On  both  sides  of  the  swath  cut  by 
this  sweep  of  the  Confederate  scythe,  the  steady  veterans 
of  Grant  were  unshaken  and  still  poured  their  incessant 
volleys  into  the  retreating  Confederate  ranks.  My  com 
mand  had  cut  its  way  through  the  Union  centre,  and  at 
that  moment  it  was  in  the  remarkably  strange  position 
of  being  on  identically  the  same  general  line  with  the 
enemy,  the  Confederates  facing  in  one  direction,  the 
Federals  in  the  other.  Looking  down  that  line  from 


240    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Grant's  right  toward  his  left,  there  would  first  have  been 
seen  a  long  stretch  of  blue  uniforms,  then  a  short  stretch 
of  gray,  then  another  still  longer  of  blue,  in  one  contin 
uous  line.  The  situation  was  both  unique  and  alarming. 
I  know  of  no  case  like  it  in  military  history;  nor  has 
there  come  to  my  knowledge  from  military  text-books 
or  the  accounts  of  the  world's  battles  any  precedent  for 
the  movement  which  extricated  my  command  from  its 
perilous  environment  and  changed  the  threatened  cap 
ture  or  annihilation  of  my  troops  into  victory.  The  solid 
and  dotted  portions  of  the  line,  here  given,  correctly  rep 
resent  the  position  of  my  troops  in  relation  to  the  Federals 
at  this  particular  juncture:  the  Union  forces  are  indi 
cated  by  a  solid  line,  the  Confederates  (my  command) 
by  a  dotted  line,  and  the  arrows  indicate  the  direction  in 
which  the  forces  were  facing. 


It  will  be  seen  that  further  movement  to  Grant's  rear 
was  not  to  be  considered ;  for  his  unbroken  lines  on  each 
side  of  me  would  promptly  close  up  the  gap  which  my 
men  had  cut  through  his  centre,  thus  rendering  the  cap 
ture  of  my  entire  command  inevitable.  To  attempt  to  re 
tire  by  the  route  by  which  we  had  advanced  was  almost,  if 
not  equally,  as  hazardous ;  for  those  same  unbroken  and 
now  unopposed  ranks  on  each  side  of  me,  as  soon  as  such 
retrograde  movement  began,  would  instantly  rush  from 
both  directions  upon  my  retreating  command  and  quickly 
crush  it.  In  such  a  crisis,  when  moments  count  for 
hours,  when  the  fate  of  a  command  hangs  upon  instan 
taneous  decision,  the  responsibility  of  the  commander  is 
almost  overwhelming;  but  the  very  extremity  of  the 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  5  241 

danger  electrifies  his  brain  to  abnormal  activity.  In 
such  peril  he  does  more  thinking  in  one  second  than  he 
would  ordinarily  do  in  a  day.  No  man  ever  realized 
more  fully  than  I  did  at  that  dreadful  moment  the  truth 
of  the  adage:  "Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention." 
As  soon  as  my  troops  had  broken  through  the  Union 
ranks,  I  directed  my  staff  to  halt  the  command ;  and  be 
fore  the  Union  veterans  could  recover  from  the  shock, 
my  regiments  were  moving  at  double-quick  from  the 
centre  into  file  right  and  left,  thus  placing  them  in  two 
parallel  lines,  back  to  back,  in  a  position  at  a  right  angle 
to  the  one  held  a  moment  before.  This  quickly  executed 
manoeuvre  placed  one  half  of  my  command  squarely 
upon  the  right  flank  of  one  portion  of  the  enemy's  un 
broken  line,  and  the  other  half  facing  in  exactly  the 
opposite  direction,  squarely  upon  the  left  flank  of  the 
enemy's  line.  This  position  is  correctly  represented  by 
the  solid  (Federal)  and  dotted  (Confederate)  lines  here 
shown. 


This  done,  both  these  wings  were  ordered  forward, 
and,  with  another  piercing  yell,  they  rushed  in  opposite 
directions  upon  the  right  and  left  flanks  of  the  astounded 
Federals,  shattering  them  as  any  troops  that  were  ever 
marshalled  would  have  been  shattered,  capturing  large 
numbers,  and  checking  any  further  effort  by  General 
Grant  on  that  portion  of  the  field. 

Meantime,  while  this  unprecedented  movement  was 
being  executed,  the  Confederates  who  had  been  previously 
driven  back,  rallied  and  moved  in  spirited  charge  to  the 
front  and  recovered  the  lost  ground.  Both  armies  rested 
for  the  night  near  the  points  where  the  first  collisions  of 


242  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

the  day  had  occurred.  It  would  be  more  accurate  to 
say  they  remained  for  the  night;  for  there  was  little 
rest  to  the  weary  men  of  either  army.  Both  sides 
labored  all  night  in  the  dark  and  dense  woodland,  throw 
ing  up  such  breastworks  as  were  possible — a  most  timely 
preparation  for  the  next  day's  conflicts.  My  own  com 
mand  was  ordered  during  the  night  to  the  extreme  left 
of  Lee's  lines,  under  the  apprehension  that  Grant's  right 
overlapped  and  endangered  our  left  flank. 

Thus  ended  the  5th  of  May,  which  had  witnessed  the 
first  desperate  encounter  between  Grant  and  Lee.  The 
fighting  had  not  involved  the  whole  of  either  army,  but 
it  was  fierce  and  bloody.  It  would  be  unjust  to  claim 
that  either  of  the  famous  leaders  had  achieved  a  signal 
victory.  Both  sides  had  left  their  dead  scattered  through 
the  bullet-riddled  underbrush.  The  Confederates  drew 
comfort  from  the  fact  that  in  the  shifting  fortunes  of  the 
day  theirs  was  the  last  advance,  that  the  battle  had 
ended  near  where  it  had  begun,  and  that  the  Union 
advance  had  been  successfully  repulsed. 

It  was  impossible  to  know  what  changes  in  the  dispo 
sition  of  his  forces  General  Grant  would  make  during 
the  night.  It  was  useless  to  speculate  as  to  whether  he 
would  mass  his  troops  for  still  heavier  assault  upon  the 
positions  we  then  held  or  would  concentrate  against 
Lee's  right  or  left  flank.  All  that  could  be  done  was  to 
prepare  as  best  we  could  for  any  contingency,  and  await 
the  developments  which  the  morrow  would  bring. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  WILDERNESS  —  BATTLE  OF  MAY  6. 

The  men  ordered  to  sleep  on  their  arms  —  Report  of  scouts  —  Sedg- 
wick's  exposed  position  —  A  plan  proposed  to  flank  and  crush  him  — 
General  Early's  objections  to  it  —  Unfounded  belief  that  Burnside 
protected  Sedgwick  —  General  Lee  orders  a  movement  in  the  late 
afternoon  —  Its  success  until  interrupted  by  darkness  —  The  Govern 
ment  official  records  prove  that  Early  was  mistaken. 

THE  night  of  the  5th  of  May  was  far  spent  when  my 
command  reached  its  destination  on  the  extreme 
Confederate  left.  The  men  were  directed  to  sleep  on 
their  arms  during  the  remaining  hours  of  darkness. 
Scouts  were  at  once  sent  to  the  front  to  feel  their  way 
through  the  thickets  and  ascertain,  if  possible,  where 
the  extreme  right  of  Grant's  line  rested.  At  early 
dawn  these  trusted  men  reported  that  they  had  found 
it :  that  it  rested  in  the  woods  only  a  short  distance  in 
our  front,  that  it  was  wholly  unprotected,  and  that  the 
Confederate  lines  stretched  a  considerable  distance  be 
yond  the  Union  right,  overlapping  it.  I  was  so  im 
pressed  with  the  importance  of  this  report  and  with  the 
necessity  of  verifying  its  accuracy  that  I  sent  others  to 
make  the  examination,  with  additional  instructions  to 
proceed  to  the  rear  of  Grant's  right  and  ascertain  if  the 
exposed  flank  were  supported  by  troops  held  in  reserve 
behind  it.  The  former  report  was  not  only  confirmed 
as  to  the  exposed  position  of  that  flank,  but  the  astound 
ing  information  was  brought  that  there  was  not  a  sup 
porting  force  within  several  miles  of  it. 

243 


244  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

Much  of  this  scouting  had  been  done  in  the  late  hours 
of  the  night  and  before  sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the 
6th.  Meantime,  as  this  information  came  my  brain  was 
throbbing  with  the  tremendous  possibilities  to  which 
such  a  situation  invited  us,  provided  the  conditions 
were  really  as  reported.  Mounting  my  horse  in  the 
early  morning  and  guided  by  some  of  these  explorers,  I 
rode  into  the  unoccupied  woodland  to  see  for  myself. 
It  is  enough  to  say  that  I  found  the  reports  correct  in 
every  particular.  Riding  back  toward  my  line,  I  was 
guided  by  the  scouts  to  the  point  near  which  they  had 
located  the  right  of  the  Union  army.  Dismounting  and 
creeping  slowly  and  cautiously  through  the  dense  woods, 
we  were  soon  in  ear-shot  of  an  un suppressed  and  merry 
clatter  of  voices.  A  few  feet  nearer,  and  through  a 
narrow  vista,  I  was  shown  the  end  of  General  Grant's 
temporary  breastworks.  There  was  no  line  guarding 
this  flank.  As  far  as  my  eye  could  reach,  the  Union 
soldiers  were  seated  on  the  margin  of  the  rifle-pits,  tak 
ing  their  breakfast.  Small  fires  were  burning  over 
which  they  were  boiling  their  coffee,  while  their  guns 
leaned  against  the  works  in  their  immediate  front. 

No  more  time  was  consumed  in  scouting.  The  revela 
tions  had  amazed  me  and  filled  me  with  confident  antici 
pations  of  unprecedented  victory.  It  was  evident  that 
General  Grant  had  decided  to  make  his  heaviest  assaults 
upon  the  Confederate  right,  and  for  this  purpose  had 
ordered  his  reserves  to  that  flank.  By  some  inconceiv 
able  oversight  on  the  part  of  his  subordinates,  his  own 
right  flank  had  been  left  in  the  extremely  exposed  con 
dition  in  which  my  scouts  had  found  it.  Undoubtedly 
the  officer  who  located  that  battle  line  for  General  Grant 
or  for  General  Sedgwick  was  under  the  impression  that 
there  were  no  Confederates  in  front  of  that  portion  of  it ; 
and  this  was  probably  true  at  the  time  the  location  was 
made.  That  fact,  however,  did  not  justify  the  officer  in 


THE   WILDERNESS— MAY  6  245 

leaving  his  flank  (which  is  the  most  vulnerable  part'  of 
an  army)  thus  unguarded  for  a  whole  night  after  the 
battle. 

If  it  be  true  that  in  peace  "  eternal  vigilance  is  the 
price  of  liberty,"  it  is  no  less  true  that  in  war,  espe 
cially  war  in  a  wilderness,  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price 
of  an  army's  safety.  Yet,  in  a  woodland  so  dense  that 
an  enemy  could  scarcely  be  seen  at  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  yards,  that  Union  officer  had  left  the  right  flank 
of  General  Grant's  army  without  even  a  picket-line  to 
protect  it  or  a  vedette  to  give  the  alarm  in  case  of  un 
expected  assault.  During  the  night,  while  the  over-con 
fident  Union  officer  and  his  men  slept  in  fancied  se 
curity,  my  men  stole  silently  through  the  thickets 
and  planted  a  hostile  line  not  only  in  his  immediate 
front,  but  overlapping  it  by  more  than  the  full  length 
of  my  command.  All  intelligent  military  critics  will 
certainly  agree  that  such  an  opportunity  as  was  here 
presented  for  the  overthrow  of  a  great  army  has 
rarely  occurred  in  the  conduct  of  a  war.  The  failure 
to  take  advantage  of  it  was  even  a  greater  blunder  than 
the  "  untimely  discretion  "  which  checked  the  sweep  of 
the  Confederate  lines  upon  the  Union  right  on  that  first 
afternoon  at  Gettysburg,  or  the  still  more  fatal  delay  on 
the  third  day  which  robbed  Lee  of  assured  victory. 

As  soon  as  all  the  facts  in  regard  to  the  situation 
were  fully  confirmed,  I  formed  and  submitted  the  plan 
which,  if  promptly  adopted  and  vigorously  followed,  I 
then  believed  and  still  believe  would  have  resulted  in 
the  crushing  defeat  of  General  Grant's  army.  Indeed, 
the  plan  of  battle  may  almost  be  said  to  have  formed 
itself,  so  naturally,  so  promptly  and  powerfully  did  it 
take  hold  of  my  thoughts.  That  plan  and  the  situation 
which  suggested  it  may  be  described  simply  and  briefly : 

First,  there  was  Grant's  battle  line  stretching  for  miles 
through  the  Wilderness,  with  Sedgwick's  corps  on  the 


246    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

right  and  Warren's  next,  while  far  away  on  the  left  was 
Hancock's,  supported  by  the  great  body  of  the  Union 
reserves. 

Second,  in  close  proximity  to  this  long  stretch  of 
Union  troops,  and  as  nearly  parallel  to  it  as  circum 
stances  would  permit,  was  Lee's  line  of  Confederates. 

Third,  both  of  these  lines  were  behind  small  breast 
works  which  had  been  thrown  up  by  the  respective 
armies  during  the  night  of  the  5th.  On  Lee's  left  and 
confronting  Sedgwick  was  E well's  corps,  of  which  my 
command  was  a  part.  In  my  immediate  front,  as  above 
stated,  there  was  no  Union  force  whatever.  It  was 
perfectly  practicable,  therefore,  for  me  to  move  out  my 
command  and  form  at  right  angles  to  the  general  line, 
close  to  Sedgwick's  unprotected  flank  and  squarely 
across  it. 

Fourth,  when  this  movement  should  be  accomplished 
there  would  still  remain  a  brigade  of  Confederates  con 
fronting  each  brigade  of  Federals  along  the  established 
battle  line.  Thus  the  Union  troops  could  be  held  to 
their  work  along  the  rifle-pits,  while  my  command 
would  sweep  down  upon  the  flank  and  obliquely  upon 
their  rear. 

As  later  developments  proved,  one  brigade  on  the 
flank  was  all  that  was  needed  for  the  inauguration  of 
the  plan  and  the  demonstration  of  its  possibilities.  The 
details  of  the  plan  were  as  follows:  While  the  unsus 
pecting  Federals  were  drinking  their  coffee,  my  troops 
were  to  move  quickly  and  quietly  behind  the  screen  of 
thick  underbrush  and  form  squarely  on  Sedgwick's 
strangely  exposed  flank,  reaching  a  point  far  beyond 
that  flank  and  lapping  around  his  rear,  so  as  to  capture 
his  routed  men  as  they  broke  to  the  rear.  While  my 
command  rushed  from  this  ambush  a  simultaneous 
demonstration  was  to  be  made  along  his  front.  As  each 
of  Sedgwick's  brigades  gave  way  in  confusion,  the 


THE  WILDERNESS-MAY  6  247 

corresponding  Confederate  brigade,  whose  front  was 
thus  cleared  on  the  general  line,  was  to  swing  into  the 
column  of  attack  on  the  flank,  thus  swelling  at  each  step 
of  our  advance  the  numbers,  power,  and  momentum  of 
the  Confederate  forces  as  they  swept  down  the  line  of 
works  and  extended  another  brigade's  length  to  the  un 
protected  Union  rear.  As  each  of  the  Union  brigades, 
divisions,  and  corps  were  struck  by  such  an  absolutely 
resistless  charge  upon  the  flank  and  rear,  they  must  fly 
or  be  captured.  The  effective  force  of  Grant's  army 
would  be  thus  constantly  diminished,  and  in  the  same 
proportion  the  column  of  attack  would  be  steadily 
augmented. 

Add  to  this  inestimable  Confederate  advantage  the 
panic  and  general  demoralization  that  was  inevitable  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  corresponding  and  ever-increasing 
enthusiasm  that  would  be  aroused  upon  the  other,  and 
it  will  be  admitted  that  I  do  not  overestimate  the  oppor 
tunity  when  I  say  that  it  has  been  rarely  equalled  in  any 
war. 

As  far  as  could  be  anticipated,  the  plan  was  devised  to 
meet  every  contingency.  For  example,  as  Sedgwick  had 
no  reserves  in  support  behind  him,  all  having  been  sent 
to  the  Union  left,  his  only  chance  of  meeting  the  sudden 
assault  on  his  right  and  rear  was  to  withdraw  from  his 
intrenchments  under  the  fire  of  this  flanking  force  and 
attempt  to  form  a  new  line  at  right  angle  to  his  works, 
and  thus  perhaps  arrest  the  headlong  Confederate 
charge. 

But  it  will  be  seen  that  his  situation  would  then  be 
rendered  still  more  hopeless,  because  as  he  changed 
front  and  attempted  to  form  a  new  line  the  Confeder 
ates  in  front  of  his  works  were  to  leap  from  their  rifle- 
pits  and  rush  upon  his  newly  exposed  flank.  He  would 
thus  be  inevitably  crushed  between  the  two  Confederate 
forces. 


248    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

When  Sedgwick's  corps  should  thus  be  destroyed,  the 
fate  of  the  next  Union  corps  (Warren's)  would  surely  be 
sealed,  for  in  its  front  would  be  the  Confederate  corps, 
led  by  that  brilliant  soldier,  A.  P.  Hill,  ready  to  assault 
from  that  direction,  while  upon  its  flank  would  be  not 
only  my  two  brigades,  as  in  the  case  of  Sedgwick,  but 
E  well's  entire  corps,  adding  to  the  column  of  attack. 
In  practically  unobstructed  march  around  Warren's 
flank  Ewell  would  speedily  envelop  it,  and  thus  the 
second  Union  corps  in  the  battle  line  would  be  forced  to 
precipitate  flight;  or  if  it  attempted,  however  bravely, 
to  stand  its  ground,  it  would  be  inevitably  crushed  or 
captured  as  Ewell  assailed  it  in  rear  while  Hill  assaulted 
in  front. 

And  so  of  the  next  corps  and  the  next.  Had  no  part 
of  this  plan  ever  been  tested,  the  vast  results  which 
must  have  attended  its  execution  could  scarcely  be 
doubted  by  any  experienced  soldier.  Fortunately,  how 
ever,  for  the  removal  of  all  doubt  in  the  premises,  it  was 
tested— tested  at  an  hour  most  unfavorable  to  its  success 
and  after  almost  the  entire  day  had  been  wasted :  tested 
on  General  Lee's  approval  and  by  his  personal  order  and 
almost  in  his  immediate  presence.  The  test,  unfair  as 
it  was,  furnished  the  plainest  and  most  convincing  proof 
that  had  it  been  made  at  an  early  hour  in  the  day  in 
stead  of  at  sundown,  the  6th  of  May  would  have  ended 
in  the  crushing  defeat  of  General  Grant's  army. 

Here  is  the  test  and  here  the  results.  With  my  own 
Georgia  brigade  and  General  Robert  Johnson's  North 
Carolinians  moving  by  the  left  flank,  so  that  we  should 
have  nothing  to  do,  when  the  proper  point  was  reached, 
except  to  close  up,  to  front  face  and  forward,  we  pressed 
through  the  woods  as  rapidly  and  noiselessly  as  possible 
and  halted  at  the  point  immediately  opposite  Sedgwick's 
flank. 

The    solid    and  dotted  lines  here  given  sufficiently 


THE   WILDEBNESS-MAY  6  249 

indicate  the  approximate  positions  occupied  by  the  re- 
spective  armies  at  the  beginning  of  my  flank  attack. 


Federal 


«! 


Confederate 


The  Georgia  brigade  (Gordon's)  was  directed  to  make 
the  assault,  and  the  North  Carolina  brigade  (Johnson's) 
was  ordered  to  move  farther  to  the  Union  rear  and  to 
keep  as  nearly  as  possible  in  touch  with  the  attacking 
force  and  to  gather  up  Sedgwick's  men  as  they  broke  to 
the  rear.  As  the  sun  went  down  these  troops  were 
ordered  forward.  In  less  than  ten  minutes  they  struck 
the  Union  flank  and  with  thrilling  yells  rushed  upon  it 
and  along  the  Union  works,  shattering  regiments  and 
brigades,  and  throwing  them  into  wildest  confusion  and 
panic.  There  was  practically  no  resistance.  There 
could  be  none.  The  Georgians,  commanded  by  that  in 
trepid  leader,  Clement  A.  Evans,  were  on  the  flank,  and 
the  North  Carolinians,  led  by  a  brilliant  young  officer, 
Robert  Johnson,  were  sweeping  around  to  the  rear,  with 
out  a  shot  in  their  front.  There  was  nothing  for  the 
brave  Federals  to  do  but  to  fly.  There  was  no  time 
given  them  to  file  out  from  their  works  and  form  a  new 
line  of  resistance.  This  was  attempted  again  and  again ; 
but  in  every  instance  the  swiftly  moving  Confederates 
were  upon  them,  pouring  a  consuming  fire  into  their  half- 
formed  ranks  and  shivering  one  command  after  another 
in  quick  succession.  The  gallant  Union  leaders,  Gen 
erals  Seymour  and  Shaler,  rode  among  their  panic- 
stricken  troops  in  the  heroic  endeavor  to  form  them  into 
a  new  line.  Their  brave  efforts  were  worse  than  unavail- 


250  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR 

ing,  for  both  of  these  superb  officers,  with  large  numbers 
of  their  brigades,  were  quickly  gathered  as  prisoners  of 
war  in  the  Confederate  net;  and  nearly  the  whole  of 
Sedgwick's  corps  was  disorganized. 

It  is  due  to  both  General  Ewell  and  General  Early  to 
say  that  they  did  all  in  their  power  to  help  forward  the 
movement  when  once  begun.  There  was,  however,  little 
need  for  help,  for  the  North  Carolina  brigade,  which  was 
in  the  movement,  had  not  found  an  opportunity  to  fire 
or  to  receive  a  shot ;  and  the  Georgia  brigade  as  a  whole 
had  not  been  checked  for  a  single  moment  nor  suffered 
any  serious  loss.  These  men  were  literally  revelling  in 
the  chase,  when  the  unwelcome  darkness  put  an  end  to 
it.  They  were  so  enthused  by  the  pursuit,  which  they 
declared  to  me,  as  I  rode  among  them,  was  the  "  finest 
frolic  "  they  had  ever  been  engaged  in,  that  it  was  diffi 
cult  to  halt  them  even  when  it  became  too  dark  to  dis 
tinguish  friend  from  foe.  With  less  than  sixty  casualties, 
this  brigade  almost  single-handed  had  achieved  these 
great  results  during  the  brief  twilight  of  the  6th  of  May. 
And  possibly  one  half  of  the  small  loss  that  occurred 
was  inflicted  after  nightfall  by  Confederates  who  enthusi 
astically  charged  from  the  front  upon  the  Union  breast 
works,  firing  as  they  came,  and  not  realizing  that  my 
command  in  its  swift  movement  down  the  flank  had 
reached  that  point  on  Sedgwick's  line.  The  brave  and 
brilliant  John  W.  Daniel,  now  United  States  senator 
from  Virginia,  was  then  serving  on  the  staff  of  General 
Early.  As  he  rode  with  me  in  the  darkness,  he  fell,  des 
perately  wounded,  with  his  thigh-bone  shattered.  He 
narrowly  escaped  death  from  this  wound,  which  has 
maimed  him  for  life. 

It  will  be  seen  that  my  troops  were  compelled  to  halt 
at  last,  not  by  the  enemy's  resistance,  but  solely  by  the 
darkness  and  the  cross-fire  from  Confederates.  Had 
daylight  lasted  one  half-hour  longer,  there  would  not 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  6  251 

have  been  left  an  organized  company  in  Sedgwick's 
corps.  Even  as  it  was,  all  accounts  agree  that  his  whole 
command  was  shaken.  As  I  rode  abreast  of  the  Geor 
gians,  who  were  moving  swiftly  and  with  slight  resist 
ance,  the  last  scene  which  met  my  eye  as  the  curtain  of 
night  shut  off  the  view  was  the  crumbling  of  the  Union 
lines  as  they  bravely  but  vainly  endeavored  to  file  out 
of  their  works  and  form  a  new  line  under  the  furious 
onset  and  withering  fire  of  the  Confederates. 

General  Horace  Porter,  who  served  with  distinction  on 
General  Grant's  staff,  speaking  in  his  book  of  this  twi 
light  flank  attack  on  the  6th  of  May,  says :  "  It  was  now 
about  sundown ;  the  storm  of  battle  which  had  raged 
with  unabated  fury  from  early  dawn  had  been  succeeded 
by  a  calm.  .  .  .  Just  then  the  stillness  was  broken 
by  heavy  volleys  of  musketry  on  our  extreme  right, 
which  told  that  Sedgwick  had  been  assaulted  and  was 
actually  engaged  with  the  enemy.  The  attack  against 
which  the  general-in-chief  during  the  day  had  ordered 
every  precaution  to  be  taken  had  now  been  made. 
.  .  .  Generals  Grant  and  Meade,  accompanied  by 
me  and  one  or  two  other  staff  officers,  walked  rapidly 
over  to  Meade's  tent,  and  found  that  the  reports 
still  coming  in  were  bringing  news  of  increasing 
disaster.  It  was  soon  reported  that  General  Shaler  and 
part  of  his  brigade  had  been  captured;  then  that  Gen 
eral  Seymour  and  several  hundred  of  his  men  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy;  afterward  that  our  right 
had  been  turned,  and  Ferrero's  division  cut  off  and  forced 
back  upon  the  Rapidan.  .  .  .  Aides  came  galloping 
in  from  the  right,  laboring  under  intense  excitement, 
talking  wildly  and  giving  the  most  exaggerated  reports 
of  the  engagement.  Some  declared  that  a  large  force 
had  broken  and  scattered  Sedgwick's  entire  corps. 
Others  insisted  that  the  enemy  had  turned  our  right  com 
pletely  and  captured  the  wagon-train.  ...  A  general 


252  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

officer  came  in  from  his  command  at  this  juncture  and 
said  to  the  general-in-chief,  speaking  rapidly  and  labor 
ing  under  considerable  excitement :  '  General  Grant, 
this  is  a  crisis  that  cannot  be  looked  upon  too  seri 
ously;  I  know  Lee's  methods  well  by  past  experience; 
he  will  throw  his  whole  army  between  us  and  the 
Rapidan  and  cut  us  off  completely  from  our  communi 
cations.'  " 

This  extract  from  General  Porter's  book  is  given 
merely  to  show  what  consternation  had  been  carried 
into  the  Union  ranks  by  this  flank  attack,  which  had 
been  delayed  from  early  morning  to  sundown.  The 
question  is  pertinent :  What  would  have  been  the  result 
of  that  flank  movement  had  the  plan  of  battle  suggested 
been  promptly  accepted  in  the  early  morning  and  vigor 
ously  executed,  as  was  urged  ? 

If  we  carefully  and  impartially  consider  all  the  facts 
and  circumstances,  there  cannot  be  much  disagreement 
as  to  the  answer.  If  that  one  Georgia  brigade,  sup 
ported  by  the  North  Carolinians,  could  accomplish  such 
results  in  such  brief  space  of  time,  it  is  beyond  question 
that  the  Confederate  column  of  attack,  constantly  aug 
mented  during  an  entire  day  of  battle,  would  have  swept 
the  Union  forces  from  the  field.  Indeed,  had  not  dark 
ness  intervened,  the  Georgia  and  North  Carolina  brigades 
alone  would  have  shattered  Sedgwick's  entire  corps ;  and 
the  brigades  and  divisions  of  Ewell,  which  confronted 
those  of  Sedgwick  on  the  general  line,  would  have 
marched  steadily  across  to  join  the  Georgians  and  North 
Carolinians,  instead  of  rushing  across  in  the  darkness, 
firing  as  they  came,  and  inflicting  more  damage  upon 
my  men  than  upon  the  enemy. 

General  Porter,  speaking  of  General  Grant's  prompt 
ness  after  dark  in  "  relieving  the  situation,"  says :  "  Re- 
enforcements  were  hurried  to  the  point  attacked,  and 
preparations  made  for  Sedgwick's  corps  to  take  up  a 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  6  253 

new  line  with  the  front  and  right  thrown  back."  These 
movements  were  such  as  were  to  be  expected  from  so 
able  a  commander  as  G-eneral  Grant.  But  it  will  be  seen 
that  neither  of  them  could  have  been  accomplished  had 
this  flank  assault  been  made  at  an  early  hour  of  the  day. 
General  Grant's  army  on  the  other  flank  was  so  pressed 
that  he  could  not  have  safely  weakened  his  force  there 
to  aid  Sedgwick.  Both  armies  on  that  flank  were 
strained  to  the  utmost,  and  Lee  and  Grant  were  both 
there  in  person,  superintending  the  operations  of  their 
respective  forces.  When  night  came  and  put  an  end  to 
the  fighting  on  his  left  flank,  then,  and  not  till  then,  was 
General  Grant  in  position  to  send  reinforcements  to 
Sedgwick.  Moreover,  had  the  plan  of  battle  proposed 
to  Early  and  Ewell  been  accepted,  Lee,  of  course,  would 
have  been  fully  advised  of  it,  and  of  every  stage  of  its 
progress.  He  would,  therefore,  have  made  all  his  arrange 
ments  auxiliary  to  this  prime  movement  upon  General 
Grant's  exposed  right.  The  simple  announcement  to 
Lee  of  the  fact  that  this  right  flank  of  the  Union  army 
was  entirely  unprotected,  and  that  it  was  in  close  prox 
imity  to  his  unemployed  troops,  would  have  been  to  that 
great  Southern  soldier  the  herald  of  victory.  He  would 
have  anticipated  at  once  every  material  and  command 
ing  event  which  must  necessarily  have  followed  the 
embracing  of  so  unexampled  an  opportunity.  As  soon 
as  he  had  learned  that  his  troops  were  placed  secretly 
and  squarely  across  Sedgwick's  right,  Lee  could  have 
written  in  advance  a  complete  description  of  the  resist 
less  Confederate  charge — of  the  necessary  flight  or  cap 
ture  in  quick  succession  of  the  hopelessly  flanked  Union 
commands,  of  the  cumulative  power  of  the  Confederate 
column  at  every  step  of  its  progress,  compelling  General 
Grant  to  send  large  bodies  of  men  to  his  right,  thus 
weakening  his  left.  In  front  of  that  left  was  Lee  in 
person.  With  a  full  knowledge  of  the  progress  made  by 


254  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

his  own  flanking  columns,  and  appreciating  the  extremity 
in  which  such  a  movement  would  place  the  Union  com 
mander,  Lee  would  have  lost  no  time  in  availing  himself 
of  all  the  advantages  of  the  anomalous  situation.  Know 
ing  that  General  Grant  would  be  compelled  to  send  a 
large  part  of  his  army  to  meet  the  Confederate  column, 
which  had  completely  turned  his  flank  and  was  pressing 
his  rear,  Lee  would  either  have  driven  back  the  forces 
left  in  his  front,  thus  bringing  confusion  to  that  wing 
also,  or  he  would  have  detached  a  portion  of  the  troops 
under  his  immediate  command  and  sent  them  to  Ewell 
to  swell  the  column  of  Confederates  already  in  Grant's 
rear,  forcing  him  to  change  front  and  reform  his  whole 
battle  line  under  the  most  perilous  conditions. 

After  weighing  the  unparalleled  advantage  which 
such  a  situation  would  have  given  to  such  a  commander 
as  Lee,  can  any  impartial  military  critic  suggest  a  ma 
noeuvre  which  could  possibly  have  saved  General  Grant's 
army  from  crushing  defeat  ?  If  so,  he  will  have  solved 
the  embarrassing  problem  which  a  completely  flanked 
and  crumbling  army  must  always  meet. 

The  simple  truth  is  that  an  army  which  is  expending 
all  its  strength,  or  even  the  major  part  of  it,  in  repelling 
attacks  along  its  front,  and  permits  itself  to  be  completely 
flanked,  is  in  the  utmost  extremity  of  peril.  Among  the 
highest  military  authorities  there  will  be  no  dispute,  I 
think,  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  proposition  that 
when  opposing  battle  lines  are  held  by  forces  of  even 
approximate  strength  and  of  equal  fighting  qualities, 
and  are  commanded  by  officers  of  equal  ability,  the  one 
or  the  other  is  in  a  practically  hopeless  condition  if, 
while  met  at  every  point  on  its  front,  it  is  suddenly 
startled  by  a  carefully  planned  and  vigorous  assault 
upon  either  its  flank  or  rear.  Its  situation  is  still  more 
desperate  if  assaulted  both  in  flank  and  rear.  This  is 
especially  true  when  the  plan  of  attack  is  based  upon 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  6  255 

the  certainty  of  rapidly  accumulating  strength  in  the 
assaulting  column.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the 
position  of  an  army  so  flanked  is  absolutely  hopeless 
unless,  as  in  this  case,  the  coming  of  darkness  intervenes 
to  save  it. 

Another  inquiry  to  which  I  feel  compelled,  in  the 
interest  of  history,  to  give  a  full  and  frank  answer  is 
this :  "Who  was  responsible  for  the  delay  of  nine  hours 
or  more  while  that  exposed  Union  flank  was  inviting 
our  attack  ? 

When  the  plan  for  assault  was  fully  matured,  it  was 
presented,  with  all  its  tremendous  possibilities  and  with 
the  full  information  which  had  been  acquired  by  scouts 
and  by  my  own  personal  and  exhaustive  examination. 
With  all  the  earnestness  that  comes  from  deep  convic 
tion,  the  prompt  adoption  and  vigorous  execution  of 
the  plan  were  asked  and  urged.  General  Early  at  once 
opposed  it.  He  said  that  Burnside's  corps  was  immedi 
ately  behind  Sedgwick's  right  to  protect  it  from  any 
such  flank  attack ;  that  if  I  should  attempt  such  move 
ment,  Burnside  would  assail  my  flank  and  rout  or  cap 
ture  all  my  men.  He  was  so  firmly  fixed  in  his  belief 
that  Burnside's  corps  was  where  he  declared  it  to  be  that 
he  was  not  perceptibly  affected  by  the  repeated  reports 
of  scouts,  nor  my  own  statement  that  I  myself  had 
ridden  for  miles  in  rear  of  Sedgwick's  right,  and  that 
neither  Burnside's  corps  nor  any  other  troops  were 
there.  General  Ewell,  whose  province  it  was  to  decide 
the  controversy,  hesitated.  He  was  naturally  reluctant 
to  take  issue  with  my  superior  officer  in  a  matter 
about  which  he  could  have  no  personal  knowledge, 
because  of  the  fact  that  his  headquarters  as  corps- 
commander  were  located  at  considerable  distance  from 
this  immediate  locality.  In  view  of  General  Early's 
protest,  he  was  unwilling  to  order  the  attack  or  to 
grant  rae  permission  to  make  it,  even  upon  my  pro- 


256  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

posing  to  assume  all  responsibility  of  disaster,  should 
any  occur. 

Meantime  the  roaring  battle  to  our  right  was  punctu 
ating  with  tremendous  emphasis  the  folly  of  our  delay. 
A.  P.  Hill,  in  impetuous  assault,  had  broken  and  hurled 
back  almost  upon  General  Grant's  headquarters  a  por 
tion  of  Warren's  corps.  The  zone  of  the  most  furious 
fighting  was,  however,  still  farther  off  and  on  the 
extreme  right  of  our  line,  where  the  heaviest  forces  of 
both  armies  were  gathered.  The  almost  incessant  roll 
of  musketry  indicated  that  the  fighting  was  tremendous,, 
From  4 : 30  o'clock  in  the  morning,  through  the  entire 
forenoon,  and  until  late  in  the  day,  there  had  been  at 
different  points  along  the  lines  to  our  right  alternate 
and  desperate  assaults  by  the  two  armies,  with  varying 
success;  but  not  a  shot  was  being  fired  near  us.  My 
troops  and  the  other  portions  of  Ewell's  corps  were 
comparatively  idle  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day, 
while  the  bloody  scenes  to  our  right  were  being  enacted. 
It  is  most  remarkable  that  the  desperate  struggle  on 
that  far-off  flank,  coupled  with  the  stillness  on  ours, 
failed  to  impress  my  superior  officers  as  significant.  In 
the  early  hours  of  the  day  Hancock  had  pressed  back 
the  Confederate  right,  doubling  it  up  and  driving  it,  as 
was  asserted,  for  a  mile  or  more.  Meantime  Longstreet 
arrived  with  his  superb  corps.  Hancock  was  checked, 
and  General  Grant's  forces,  in  turn,  were  hurled  back  by 
the  Confederate  assaults.  Like  an  oscillating  pendulum, 
victory  was  vibrating  between  the  two  armies  through 
all  of  that  eventful  day,  while  at  any  hour  of  it  the  pro 
posed  movement  on  Sedgwick's  flank  by  Ewell's  idle 
Confederates  was  not  only  perfectly  feasible,  but  full  of 
promise  to  the  Confederate  army. 

After  Jenkins  was  killed  and  Longstreet  had  been 
carried  back  on  a  litter,  seriously  wounded,  General 
Lee's  attention  was  necessarily  confined  to  that  portion 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  6  257 

of  the  field  where  General  Grant  was  superintending  his 
own  aggressive  operations.  This  was  one  of  the  crises 
when  General  Lee  took  personal  command  of  his  troops ; 
and  as  Gregg's  superb  brigade  of  Texans  pressed  to  the 
front,  the  conimander-in-chief  spurred  his  horse  through 
a  gap  in  the  trenches  and  attempted  to  go  with  them. 
As  these  brave  men  recognized  General  Lee,  a  ringing 
protest  ran  down  the  line,  and  they  at  last  compelled 
him  to  yield  to  their  entreaties :  "  Go  back,  General  Lee ; 
go  back ! " 

General  Grant  during  that  day  was  full  of  apprehen 
sion  that  Ewell  would  attempt  some  offensive  tactics 
against  Sedgwick,  while  Lee  was  wondering  why  it  was 
not  done.  Lee  knew  that  it  ought  to  be  done,  as  will 
appear  later,  if  for  no  other  object  than  to  divert  Grant's 
attention  from  his  prime  purpose  and  thus  bring  inci 
dental  relief  to  Longstreet  and  the  other  heavily  pressed 
Confederates  far  off  to  our  right.  General  Horace  Por 
ter,  in  his  "  Campaigning  with  Grant,"  more  than  once 
refers  to  General  Grant's  uneasiness  about  Sedgwick. 
He  says :  "  The  general-in-chief  was  devoting  a  good 
deal  of  thought  to  our  right,  which  had  been  weakened." 
Well  might  General  Grant  be  apprehensive.  Had  he 
been  fully  apprised  of  that  strangely  exposed  flank  of 
his  army,  he  would  have  been  impelled  to  send  troops  to 
protect  Sedgwick's  right.  On  the  other  hand,  had  Lee 
been  advised,  as  he  should  have  been,  of  the  reports  of 
my  scouts  and  of  myself,  he  would  not  have  delayed  the 
proposed  movement  against  Sedgwick's  flank  a  moment 
longer  than  was  necessary  to  give  an  order  for  its  exe 
cution.  The  correctness  of  this  opinion  as  to  what  Lee 
would  have  done  is  based  not  merely  upon  the  knowledge 
which  every  officer  in  his  army  possessed  of  his  mental 
characteristics,  but  upon  his  prompt  action  when  at  last 
he  was  informed  of  the  conditions  as  they  had  existed 
for  more  than  nine  hours. 


258  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

Both  General  Early  and  I  were  at  EwelPs  headquarters 
when,  at  about  5 : 30  in  the  afternoon,  General  Lee  rode 
up  and  asked :  "  Cannot  something  be  done  on  this  flank 
to  relieve  the  pressure  upon  our  right ! "  After  listening 
for  some  time  to  the  conference  which  followed  this 
pointed  inquiry,  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  acquaint  General 
Lee  with  the  facts  as  to  Sedgwick's  exposed  flank,  and 
with  the  plan  of  battle  which  had  been  submitted  and 
urged  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  and  during  the 
day.  General  Early  again  promptly  and  vigorously 
protested  as  he  had  previously  done.  He  still  steadfastly 
maintained  that  Burnside's  corps  was  in  the  woods 
behind  Sedgwick's  right;  that  the  movement  was  too 
hazardous  and  must  result  in  disaster  to  us.  With  as 
much  earnestness  as  was  consistent  with  the  position  of 
junior  officer,  I  recounted  the  facts  to  General  Lee,  and 
assured  him  that  General  Early  was  mistaken;  that  I 
had  ridden  for  several  miles  in  Sedgwick's  rear,  and  that 
neither  Burnside's  corps  nor  any  other  Union  troops 
were  concealed  in  those  woods.  The  details  of  the 
whole  plan  were  laid  before  him.  There  was  no  doubt 
with  him  as  to  its  feasibility.  His  words  were  few,  but 
his  silence  and  grim  looks  while  the  reasons  for  that 
long  delay  were  being  given,  and  his  prompt  order  tome 
to  move  at  once  to  the  attack,  revealed  his  thoughts 
almost  as  plainly  as  words  could  have  done.  Late  as  it 
was,  he  agreed  in  the  opinion  that  we  could  bring  havoc 
to  as  much  of  the  Union  line  as  we  could  reach  before 
darkness  should  check  us.  It  was  near  sunset,  and  too 
late  to  reap  more  than  a  pittance  of  the  harvest  which 
had  so  long  been  inviting  the  Confederate  sickle. 

Where  was  General  Burnside  on  the  morning  of  the 
6th?  Where  was  he  during  the  entire  day? 

General  Early  never  yielded  his  convictions  that  had  I 
been  permitted  to  attack  Sedg wick's  exposed  right  flank 
in  the  morning,  the  movement  would  have  led  to  Confed- 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY  6  259 

erate  disaster,  because  of  the  presence  of  Burn  side  be 
hind  that  flank.  He  was  so  thoroughly  satisfied  of  this 
that  in  his  book,  written  and  published  since  the  war,  he 
insists :  "  Burnside's  corps  was  in  rear  of  the  enemy's 
flank  on  which  the  attack  was  suggested."  In  the  years 
that  have  passed  I  have  made  no  effort  to  controvert  Gen 
eral  Early's  opinions  in  this  matter.  Now,  however,  the 
time  has  come  when  the  publication  of  my  own  remi 
niscences  makes  it  necessary  for  me  to  speak.  The  recent 
printing  by  the  Government  of  the  War  Records  makes 
public  the  official  reports  of  the  Federal  officers  who 
fought  in  the  Wilderness  on  that  6th  of  May.  I  shall 
quote  only  from  Federal  officers  or  Northern  history. 

In  his  report  General  Hancock  says :  "  I  am  not  aware 
what  movements  were  made  by  General  Burnside  near 
Parker's  store  on  the  morning  of  the  6th,  but  I  experi 
enced  no  relief  from  the  attack  I  was  informed  he  would 
make  across  my  front — a  movement  long  and  anxiously 
waited  for.  .  .  .  During  the  night  of  the  5th  I  re 
ceived  orders  to  move  on  the  enemy  again  at  5  A.M.  on 
the  6th."  He  adds  that  his  orders  informed  him  that 
his  right  would  be  relieved  by  an  attack  of  other  troops, 
among  them  "  two  divisions  .  .  .  under  General  Burn- 
side."  It  will  be  remembered  that  Hancock  held  the 
extreme  left  of  Grant's  army.  Burnside  was  there  with 
Hancock.  This  officer  describes  the  places  and  times 
where  and  when  Burnside  was  to  move,  and  adds :  "  The 
same  despatch  directed  me  to  attack  simultaneously  with 
General  Burnside." 

This  was  during  the  morning  hours.  Later  in  the  day 
General  Meade  locates  him  thus :  "  Soon  after  Hancock 
fell  back,  about  2  P.M.,  Burnside  attacked  toward  the 
Orange  plank  road  to  the  right  and  in  advance  of  Han 
cock's  position." 

General  Grant  himself  (speaking  of  Burnside's  move 
ments)  says  in  his  official  report :  "  By  six  o'clock  of  the 


260   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

morning  of  the  6th  he  was  leading  his  corps  into  action 
near  Wilderness  Tavern,"  etc. 

Swinton,  in  his  history  of  u  The  Army  of  the  Potomac," 
says :  "  The  Union  line  as  formed  by  dawn  of  the  6th 
was  therefore  in  the  order  of  Sedgwick  on  the  right,  next 
Warren,  and  Burnside  and  Hancock  on  the  left." 

General  Porter  says :  "  At  four  o'clock  the  next 
morning,  May  6,  we  were  awakened  in  our  camp  by  the 
sound  of  Burnside's  men  moving  along  the  Germanna 
road.  They  had  been  marching  since  1  A.M.,  hurrying 
on  to  reach  the  left  of  Warren."  He  adds :  "  The  gen 
eral  now  instructed  me  to  ride  out  to  Hancock's  front, 
inform  him  of  the  progress  of  Burnside's  movement," 
etc.  This  was  early  on  the  morning  of  the  6th,  and 
Hancock  and  Burnside  were  on  the  extreme  left.  It  is 
established,  therefore,  beyond  question  that  Burnside 
was  not  in  rear  of  Sedgwick  when  I  insisted  upon  attack 
ing  that  exposed  right  flank  in  the  early  morning.  He 
was  not  there  at  all  during  the  entire  day.  He  was  on 
the  other  flank  of  Grant's  army  morning,  noon,  and  even 
ing.  The  Federal  reports  so  locate  him,  and  there  can 
be  no  longer  any  dispute  as  to  Burnside's  locality,  upon 
which  the  entire  controversy  rests. 

General  Early,  in  his  book,  states  that  General  Ewell 
agreed  with  him  as  to  the  impolicy  of  making  the  morn 
ing  flank  attack  which  I  so  earnestly  urged.  Alas !  he 
did ;  and  in  the  light  of  revelations  subsequently  made 
by  Union  officers,  no  intelligent  military  critic,  I  think, 
will  fail  to  sympathize  with  my  lament,  which  was  even 
more  bitter  than  at  Gettysburg,  over  the  irreparable  loss 
of  Jackson.  But  for  my  firm  faith  in  God's  Providence, 
and  in  His  control  of  the  destinies  of  this  Republic,  I 
should  be  tempted  to  imitate  the  confident  exclamation 
made  to  the  Master  by  Mary  and  Martha  when  they  met 
Him  after  the  death  of  Lazarus :  "  Hadst  thou  been  here, 
our  brother  had  not  died."  Calmly  reviewing  the  indis 
putable  facts  which  made  the  situation  at  Gettysburg 


THE   WILDERNESS-MAY   6  261 

and  in  the  Wilderness  strikingly  similar,  and  consider 
ing  them  from  a  purely  military  and  worldly  stand 
point,  I  should  utter  my  profoundest  convictions  were  I 
to  say :  "  Had  Jackson  been  there,  the  Confederacy  had 
not  died."  Had  he  been  at  Gettysburg  when  a  part  of 
that  Second  Corps  which  his  genius  had  made  famous 
had  already  broken  through  the  protecting  forces  and 
was  squarely  on  the  Union  right,  which  was  melting 
away  like  a  sand-bank  struck  by  a  mountain  torrent; 
when  the  whole  Union  battle  line  that  was  in  view  was 
breaking  to  the  rear ;  when  those  flanking  Confederates 
in  their  unobstructed  rush  were  embarrassed  only  by  the 
number  of  prisoners — had  Jackson  been  there  then,  in 
stead  of  commanding  a  halt,  his  only  order  would  have 
been,  "  Forward,  men,  forward!"  as  he  majestically  rode 
in  their  midst,  intensifying  their  flaming  enthusiasm  at 
every  step  of  the  advance. 

Or  had  he  been  in  the  Wilderness  on  that  fateful  6th 
of  May,  when  that  same  right  flank  of  the  Union  army 
was  so  strangely  exposed  and  was  inviting  the  assault 
of  that  same  portion  of  his  old  corps,  words  descrip 
tive  of  the  situation  and  of  the  plan  of  attack  could  not 
have  been  uttered  fast  enough  for  his  impatient  spirit, 
Jackson's  genius  was  keener-scented  in  its  hunt  for  an 
enemy's  flank  than  the  most  royally  bred  setter's  nose  in 
search  of  the  hiding  covey.  The  fleetest  tongue  could 
not  have  narrated  the  facts  connected  with  Sedgwick's 
position  before  Jackson's  unerring  judgment  would  have 
grasped  the  whole  situation.  His  dilating  eye  would 
have  flashed,  and  his  laconic  order,  "  Move  at  once,  sir," 
would  have  been  given  with  an  emphasis  prophetic  of 
ilie  energy  with  which  he  would  have  seized  upon  every 
advantage  offered  by  the  situation.  But  Providence  had 
willed  otherwise.  Jackson  was  dead,  and  Gettysburg 
was  lost.  He  was  not  now  in  the  Wilderness,  and  the 
greatest  opportunity  ever  presented  to  Lee's  army  was 
permitted  to  pass. 


CHAPTEE  XIX 

RESULTS  OF  THE  DRAWN  BATTLES 

General  Grant  the  aggressor— Failure  to  dislodge  Lee— An  exciting 
night  ride— Surrounded  by  Federal  troops— A  narrow  escape  in  the 
darkness— General  Lee's  comments  on  the  assault  upon  Sedgwick— 
A  remarkable  prediction  as  to  General  Grant's  next  movement. 

IN  the  thirty  hours,  more  or  less,  which  elapsed  from 
the  beginning  of  the  struggle  on  the  5th  of  May  to 
its  close  after  dark  on  the  6th,  there  was,  during  the 
night  which  intervened,  a  period  of  about  eleven  hours 
in  which  the  fighting  was  suspended.  In  addition  to 
this,  the  intervals  between  the  successive  assaults  and 
the  skirmishing  consumed,  perhaps,  in  all,  some  eight  or 
nine  hours,  leaving  in  round  numbers  about  ten  hours 
of  uninterrupted,  continuous  battle.  When  it  is  remem 
bered  that  the  aggregate  losses  on  the  two  sides 
amounted  in  killed  and  wounded  to  twenty  thousand,  it 
will  be  seen  that  these  Americans  were  shooting  each 
other  down  at  the  rate  of  two  thousand  per  hour ;  and 
yet  at  no  time  or  place  during  these  hours  was  one  half 
of  the  two  lines  in  actual  strenuous  battle. 

As  at  Gettysburg,  so  in  this  prolonged  struggle  of  the 
5th  and  6th  of  May,  there  was  a  series  of  desperate  bat 
tles  ;  but,  unlike  Gettysburg,  this  engagement  brought 
to  neither  army  any  decided  advantage.  Both  had  suc 
cesses,  both  corresponding  reverses. 

The  critical  student,  however,  who  wishes  to  make  a 

262 


RESULTS  OF  THE  DRAWN  BATTLES  263 

more  complete  analysis  of  the  two  days'  happenings  on 
those  battle  lines,  and  to  consider  the  resulting  situation 
on  the  night  of  the  6th,  will,  in  order  to  determine  on 
which  side  was  the  weight  of  victory,  take  into  account 
the  following  facts:  namely,  that  General  Grant  was 
the  aggressor ;  that  his  purpose  was  to  drive  Lee  before 
him ;  that  this  was  not  accomplished ;  that  both  armies 
camped  on  the  field ;  that  Lee  only  left  it  when  Grant 
moved  to  another  field ;  and  that  both  days  ended  with 
a  Confederate  victory  won  by  the  same  Confederate 
troops. 

His  gifted  staff  officer  states  that  General  Grant,  during 
this  last  day  of  alternate  successes  and  reverses,  smoked 
twenty  large,  strong  Havana  cigars.  In  after  years, 
when  it  was  my  privilege  to  know  General  Grant  well,  he 
was  still  a  great  smoker ;  but  if  the  nervous  strain  under 
which  he  labored  is  to  be  measured  by  the  number  of 
cigars  consumed,  it  must  have  been  greater  on  the  6th 
of  May  than  at  any  period  of  his  life,  for  he  is  said 
never  to  have  equalled  that  record.  As  General  Lee  did 
not  smoke,  we  have  no  such  standard  by  which  to  test 
the  tension  upon  him.  I  apprehend,  however,  that  his 
pulses  also  were  beating  at  an  accelerated  pace,  for  he 
and  General  Grant  were  for  the  first  time  testing  each 
other's  mettle. 

The  night  of  the  6th  passed  without  alarms  on  the 
picket-lines  or  startling  reports  from  scouts;  but  a 
short  time  after  darkness  had  brought  an  end  to  my 
attack  on  Sedgwick's  corps,  I  myself  had  an  exception 
ally  exciting  experience  —  a  cautious  ride  to  the  front 
and  a  madcap  ride  to  the  rear.  I  had  ordered  a  force 
to  move  a  short  distance  nearer  to  the  enemy  and  deploy 
a  protecting  line  of  pickets  across  my  front.  This 
movement  was  so  difficult  in  that  dense  thicket  at  night 
that  the  task  was  both  dangerous  and  slow.  The  officer 
in  charge  was  to  notify  me  when  the  line  was  in  position. 


264    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

I  waited  impatiently  for  this  notification,  and  as  it  did 
Aot  reach  me  as  soon  as  expected,  I  decided  to  ride 
slowly  to  the  front  and  in  person  superintend  the  de 
ployment. 

Taking  with  me  but  one  courier,  William  Beasley  of 
Lagrange,  Georgia,  who  had  been  in  his  boyhood  the 
constant  companion  of  his  father,  Dr.  Beasley,  in  the 
fox  chase,  and  who  had  thus  become  an  experienced 
woodsman,  I  rode  cautiously  in  the  general  direction 
taken  by  my  picket  force.  There  was  no  moonlight,  but 
the  night  was  cloudless  and  the  stars  furnished  enough 
light  for  us  to  ride  without  serious  difficulty  through  the 
woods.  It  was,  however,  too  dark  for  us  readily  to  dis 
tinguish  the  color  of  uniforms.  Before  we  had  pro 
ceeded  far  we  rode  into  a  body  of  men  supposed  to  be 
the  troops  whom  I  had  sent  out  on  picket.  There  was  no 
sort  of  deployment  or  alignment,  and  I  was  considerably 
annoyed  by  this  appearance  of  carelessness  on  the  part 
of  the  officer,  to  whom  I  had  given  special  instructions. 
But  before  I  had  time  to  ascertain  what  this  indiffer 
ence  to  orders  meant,  my  trusted  courier,  whose  sight 
was  clearer  than  mine  at  night,  said  to  me  in  a  whisper, 
"  General,  these  are  not  our  men ;  they  are  Yankees." 
I  replied,  "  Nonsense,  Beasley,"  and  rode  on,  still  hoping 
to  ascertain  the  reason  for  this  inexcusable  huddling  of 
my  pickets.  Beasley,  however,  was  persistent,  and, 
taking  hold  of  my  arm,  asserted  in  the  most  emphatic 
manner,  "  I  tell  you,  General,  these  men  are  Yankees, 
and  we  had  better  get  away  from  here."  His  earnest 
ness  impressed  me,  especially  as  he  strengthened  his 
assertion  by  calling  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  even 
in  the  dim  starlight  the  dark  blue  of  the  uniforms 
around  us  presented  a  contrast  with  those  we  were 
wearing.  I  cautioned  him  to  be  quiet  and  keep  close 
to  me  as  I  began  to  turn  iny  horse  in  the  opposite 
direction.  Meantime,  and  at  the  moment  we  discovered 


RESULTS  OF  THE  DRAWN  BATTLES  265 

our  alarming  position,  we  heard  the  startling  calls  from 
Union  officers  close  by  us,  who  were  endeavoring  to 
disentangle  the  confused  mass  of  men :  "  Rally  here, 
-  New  York."  "  Let  all  the  men  of  the  -  -  Regi 
ment  of  Pennsylvania  form  here."  Up  to  this  moment 
not  the  slightest  suspicion  seemed  to  have  been  enter 
tained  by  these  men  that  Beasley  and  I  were  Confeder 
ates  ;  and,  apparently  for  the  sole  purpose  of  ascertaining 
to  what  Union  command  we  belonged,  an  officer  with 
his  sword  in  his  hand  asked  in  the  most  courteous 
manner  to  what  brigade  we  were  attached,  evidently 
hoping  to  aid  us  in  finding  it.  Both  Beasley  and  I  were, 
of  course,  deaf  to  his  inquiry,  and  continued  to  move  on 
without  making  any  reply,  turning  our  horses'  heads 
toward  the  gray  lines  in  which  we  would  feel  more  at 
home.  Either  our  strange  silence  or  our  poorly  con 
cealed  purpose  to  get  away  from  that  portion  of  the 
Wilderness  aroused  his  suspicions,  and  the  officer  called 
to  his  comrades  as  we  rode  away  from  him,  "  Halt  those 
men ! "  His  orders  were  scarcely  uttered  when  the 
"  boys  in  blue "  rushed  around  us,  shouting,  "  Halt, 
halt !  "  But  the  company  in  which  we  found  ourselves 
was  not  congenial  and  the  locality  was  not  at  that 
moment  a  good  place  for  us  to  halt.  We  had  to  go,  and 
go  instantly,  back  to  our  own  lines  or  to  a  Northern 
prison.  I  instantly  resolved  to  take  the  risk  of  escape, 
though  we  might  be  shot  into  mincemeat  by  the  hun 
dreds  of  rifles  around  us.  Beasley  was  well  mounted, 
and  I  was  riding  a  thoroughbred  stallion,  the  horse 
General  Shaler  rode  when  he  was  made  prisoner  a  few 
hours  previous.  Both  Beasley  and  I  were  fairly  good 
riders.  Instantly  throwing  my  body  as  far  down  on 
my  horse's  side  as  possible,  my  right  foot  firmly  fixed 
in  the  stirrup,  my  left  leg  gripping  the  saddle  like  an 
iron  elbow,  I  seized  the  bridle-rein  under  my  horse's 
neck,  planted  my  spur  in  his  flank,  and  called,  "  Fol- 


266  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

low  me,  Beasley ! "  This  courier  had  intuitively  fol 
lowed  the  motion  of  my  body,  and  was  clinging  like  an 
experienced  cowboy  to  the  side  of  his  horse.  As  the 
superb  animal  which  I  rode  felt  the  keen  barb  of  the 
spur,  he  sprang  with  a  tremendous  bound  through  the 
dense  underbrush  and  the  mass  of  startled  soldiers.  It 
seems  probable  that  the  Union  men  were  in  almost  as 
much  danger  from  the  hoofs  of  our  horses  as  we  were 
from  the  Union  rifles. 

Strange  as  our  escape  may  seem,  it  will  be  readily 
understood  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  whole  affair, 
like  a  sudden  flash  in  the  darkness,  was  so  unexpected 
and  so  startling  as  completely  to  bewilder  these  men, 
and  that  they  were  crowded  so  closely  together  that  it 
was  difficult  to  shoot  at  us  without  shooting  each  other. 
In  our  flight  we  seemed  to  outstrip  the  bullets  sent  after 
us ;  for  neither  Beasley  nor  myself  nor  our  horses  were 
hit,  although  the  roll  of  musketry  was  like  that  from  a 
skirmish  line.  With  the  exception  of  bruises  to  shins 
and  scalps,  the  only  serious  damage  done  was  that  in 
flicted  upon  our  clothing  by  the  bristling  chinquapins 
and  pines,  through  which  we  plunged  at  so  furious  a  rate. 

The  impressive  feature  of  that  memorable  night  was 
the  silence  that  succeeded  the  din  of  battle.  The  awe 
inspired  by  the  darkness  and  density  of  the  woods,  in 
which  two  great  armies  rested  within  hailing  distance 
of  each  other,  was  deepened  by  the  low  moans  of  the 
wounded,  and  their  calls  for  help,  as  the  ambulance 
corps  ministered  to  blue  and  gray  alike.  And  yet 
these  harrowing  conditions,  which  can  never  be  for 
gotten,  did  not  compare  in  impressiveness  with  those  at 
the  other  end  of  the  lines.  As  already  explained,  the 
battle's  storm-centre  was  on  our  right  flank.  The  di 
ameter  of  its  circling  and  destructive  currents  did  not 
exceed,  perhaps,  one  and  a  half  miles ;  but  the  amount 
of  blood  spilt  has  not  often  been  equalled  in  so  circurn- 


RESULTS    OF   THE    DKAWN   BATTLES    267 

scribed  an  area.  The  conditions  were  not  favorable  for 
the  use  of  artillery ;  but  the  few  batteries  used  left  their 
impress  on  the  forest  and  the  imaginations  of  the  men. 
The  solid  shot  slashed  the  timber,  and  the  severed  tree- 
tops  or  branches  dropped  upon  the  surging  lines,  here 
and  there  covering,  as  they  fell,  the  wounded  and  the 
dead.  The  smaller  underbrush  in  that  zone  of  fire  was 
everywhere  cut  and  scarred,  and  in  some  places  swept 
down  by  the  terrific  hail  from  small  arms.  Bloody  strips 
from  soldiers'  shirts  hung  upon  the  bushes,  while,  to  add 
to  the  accumulation  of  horrors,  the  woods  caught  fire,  as 
at  Chickamauga,  and  the  flames  rapidly  spread  before  a 
brisk  wind,  terrifying  the  disabled  wounded  and  scorch 
ing  the  bodies  of  the  slain. 

On  the  morning  of  May  7,  I  was  invited  by  the  com 
manding  general  to  ride  with  him  through  that  por 
tion  of  the  sombre  woodland  where  the  movement  of  my 
troops  upon  the  Union  right  had  occurred  on  the  pre 
vious  evening.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  plan  of 
that  battle  was  entirely  my  own,  and  that  its  execution  had 
been  delayed  until  my  statement  of  the  facts  to  General 
Lee,  in  the  presence  of  Generals  Ewell  and  Early,  secured 
from  the  commander-in-chief  the  order  for  the  movement. 
The  reasons  which  impel  me  to  refrain  from  giving  Gen 
eral  Lee's  comments  in  this  connection  will  therefore  be 
appreciated.  I  shall  be  pardoned,  however,  and,  I  think, 
justified  by  all  fair-minded  men  if  I  say  that  although 
nothing  could  compensate  the  Confederate  cause  for  that 
lost  opportunity,  yet  his  indorsement  of  the  plan  was  to 
me  personally  all  that  I  could  desire. 

It  would  be  a  matter  of  profound  interest  if  all  that 
General  Lee  said  on  this  ride  could  be  placed  upon  record. 
This  I  could  not  venture  to  undertake ;  but  I  may  state, 
without  fear  of  misleading,  that  his  comments  upon  the 
situation  were  full  and  free.  He  discussed  the  dominant 
characteristics  of  his  great  antagonist:  his  indomitable 


268    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

will  and  untiring  persistency ;  his  direct  method  of  wag 
ing  war  by  delivering  constant  and  heavy  blows  upon 
the  enemy's  front  rather  than  by  seeking  advantage 
through  strategical  manoeuvre.  General  Lee  also  said 
that  General  Grant  held  so  completely  and  firmly  the 
confidence  of  the  Government  that  he  could  command 
to  any  extent  its  limitless  resources  in  men  and  mate 
rials,  while  the  Confederacy  was  already  practically  ex 
hausted  in  both.  He,  however,  hoped— perhaps  I  may 
say  he  was  almost  convinced— that  if  we  could  keep  the 
Confederate  army  between  General  Grant  and  Rich 
mond,  checking  him  for  a  few  months  longer,  as  we  had 
in  the  past  two  days,  some  crisis  in  public  affairs  or 
change  in  public  opinion  at  the  North  might  induce  the 
authorities  at  Washington  to  let  the  Southern  States  go, 
rather  than  force  their  retention  in  the  Union  at  so 
heavy  a  cost. 

I  endeavored  to  learn  from  General  Lee  what  move 
ments  he  had  in  contemplation,  or  what  he  next  expected 
from  General  Grant.  It  was  then,  in  reply  to  my  inquiry, 
that  I  learned  for  the  first  time  of  his  intention  to  move 
at  once  to  Spottsylvania.  Reports  had  reached  me  to  the 
effect  that  General  Grant's  army  was  retreating  or  pre 
paring  to  retreat;  and  I  called  General  Lee's  attention 
to  these  rumors.  He  had  heard  them,  but  they  had  not 
made  the  slightest  impression  upon  his  mind.  He 
admitted  that  his  own  scouts  had  made  to  him  some 
such  statement,  but  said  that  such  rumors  had  no  foun 
dation,  except  in  the  moving  to  the  rear  of  General 
Grant's  ambulances  and  wagon-trains,  with  the  necessary 
forces  for  protection.  Indeed,  he  said  in  so  many  words : 
"  General  Grant  is  not  going  to  retreat.  He  will  move 
his  army  to  Spottsylvania." 

I  asked  him  if  he  had  information  of  such  contemplated 
change  by  General  Grant,  or  if  there  were  special  evi 
dences  of  such  purpose.  il  Not  at  all,"  said  Lee,  "  not  at 


RESULTS  OF   THE    DRAWN  BATTLES    269 

all ;  but  that  is  the  next  point  at  which  the  armies  will 
meet.  Spottsylvania  is  now  General  Grant's  best  strategic 
point.  I  am  so  sure  of  his  next  move  that  I  have  already 
made  arrangements  to  inarch  by  the  shortest  practicable 
route,  that  we  may  meet  him  there."  If  these  are  not 
his  exact  words,  they  change  in  no  sense  the  import  of 
what  he  did  say.  These  unhesitating  and  emphatic  state 
ments  as  to  Grant's  purposes  were  made  by  Lee  as  if 
based  on  positive  knowledge  and  not  upon  mere  specula 
tion  ;  and  the  reasons  given  by  him  for  his  conclusions 
as  to  Grant's  next  move  illustrate  the  Confederate  chief 
tain's  wonderful  foresight  as  well  as  his  high  estimate  of 
the  Union  commander  as  a  soldier. 

General  Horace  Porter,  of  General  Grant's  staff,  says : 
"  At  6 : 30  the  general  issued  his  orders  to  prepare  for  a 
night  march  of  the  entire  army  toward  Spottsylvania 
Court-house." 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  this  announcement  by  Gen 
eral  Grant  of  his  purpose  was  made  at  6 : 30  A.M.  on  the 
7th,  and  that  General  Lee's  prediction  was  uttered  on 
the  same  morning  and  at  nearly  the  same  hour,  when 
there  was  no  possibility  of  his  having  gained  any  direct 
knowledge  of  his  antagonist's  intentions.  It  was  uttered 
many  hours  before  General  Stuart,  the  Confederate  cav 
alry  commander,  had  informed  General  Lee  of  the  move 
ment  of  Union  wagon-trains  southward,  which  movement 
served  only  to  verify  the  accuracy  with  which  he  had 
divined  General  Grant's  purposes  and  predicted  his  next 
manoeuvre. 

This  notable  prophecy  of  General  Lee  and  its  fulfil 
ment  by  General  Grant  show  that  the  brains  of  these  two 
foemen  had  been  working  at  the  same  problem.  The 
known  quantities  in  that  problem  were  the  aims  of  Grant 
to  crush  Lee  and  capture  Richmond,  to  which  had  been 
added  the  results  of  the  last  two  days'  fighting.  The 
unknown  quantity  which  both  were  endeavoring  to  find 


270  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR 

was  the  next  movement  which  the  aggressor  would  prob 
ably  make.  Grant  stood  in  his  own  place  and  calculated 
from  his  own  standpoint;  Lee  put  himself  in  Grant's 
place  and  calculated  from  the  same  standpoint :  and  both 
found  the  same  answer— Spottsylvania. 

Having  reached  the  same  conclusion,  both  acted  upon 
it  with  characteristic  promptness ;  and  then  there  was  a 
race  between  them.  Leaving  their  respective  pioneer 
corps  to  bury  the  dead,  and  the  surgeons  and  nurses  to 
care  for  the  wounded,  they  pressed  toward  the  goal  which 
their  own  convictions  had  set  before  them. 


CHAPTER  XX 

SPOTTSYLVANIA 

General  Lee's  prophecy  fulfilled— Hancock's  assault  on  May  12— One 
of  his  greatest  achievements— General  Lee  to  the  head  of  the  column 
—  Turned  back  by  his  own  men— Hancock  repulsed— The  most  re 
markable  battle  of  the  war— Heroism  on  both  sides. 

THE  first  battles  in  the  Wilderness  were  the  grim 
heralds  of  those  that  were  to  follow,  and  both 
armies  knew  it.  These  experienced  soldiers  were  too 
intelligent  not  to  understand  that  a  campaign  was  now 
inaugurated  which  was  to  end  in  the  practical  destruc 
tion  of  one  army  or  the  other.  The  conditions  around 
them  were  not  greatly  changed  by  the  change  of  locality. 
They  were  still  in  the  woods,  but  these  were  less  dense 
and  were  broken  by  fields  and  open  spaces  in  which 
there  was  room  for  manoeuvre  and  the  more  effective 
handling  of  artillery. 

The  meeting  of  the  advance-guards  at  Spottsylvania 
was  the  fulfilment  to  the  letter  of  Lee's  remarkable 
prophecy.  As  the  heads  of  the  columns  collided,  the 
armies  quickly  spread  into  zigzag  formation  as  each 
brigade,  division,  or  corps  struck  its  counterpart  in  the 
opposing  lines.  These  haphazard  collisions,  however, 
rapidly  developed  a  more  orderly  alignment  and  system 
atic  battle,  which  culminated  in  that  unparalleled  strug 
gle  for  the  possession  of  a  short  line  of  Lee's  breast 
works.  I  say  unparalleled,  because  the  character  of  the 

271 


272  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

fighting,  its  duration,  and  the  individual  heroism  ex 
hibited  have  no  precedent,  so  far  as  my  knowledge 
extends,  in  our  Civil  War,  or  in  any  other  war. 

During  these  preliminary  and  somewhat  random  en 
gagements,  General  Lee,  in  order  to  secure  the  most 
advantageous  locality  offered  by  the  peculiar  topography 
of  the  country,  had  placed  his  battle  line  so  that  it  should 
conform  in  large  measure  to  the  undulations  of  the  field. 
Along  the  brow  of  these  slopes  earthworks  were  speed 
ily  constructed.  On  one  portion  of  the  line,  which 
embraced  what  was  afterward  known  as  the  "  Bloody 
Angle,"  there  was  a  long  stretch  of  breastworks  forming 
almost  a  complete  semicircle.  Its  most  advanced  or 
outer  salient  was  the  point  against  which  Hancock  made 
his  famous  charge. 

My  command  had  been  withdrawn  from  position  in 
the  regular  line,  and  a  role  was  assigned  me  which  no 
officer  could  covet  if  he  had  the  least  conception  of  the 
responsibilities  involved.  I  was  ordered  to  take  position 
in  rear  of  that  salient,  and  as  nearly  equidistant  as 
practicable  from  every  point  of  the  wide  and  threatened 
semicircle,  to  watch  every  part  of  it,  to  move  quickly, 
without  waiting  for  orders,  to  the  support  of  any  point 
that  might  be  assaulted,  and  to  restore,  if  possible,  any 
breach  that  might  be  made.  We  were  reserves  to  no 
one  command,  but  to  all  commands  occupying  that 
entire  stretch  of  works.  It  will  be  seen  that,  with  no 
possibility  of  knowing  when  or  where  General  Grant 
Would  make  his  next  effort  to  penetrate  our  lines,  the 
task  to  be  performed  by  my  troops  was  not  an  easy  one, 
and  that  the  tension  upon  the  brain  and  nerves  of  one 
upon  whom  rested  the  responsibility  was  not  light  nor 
conducive  to  sleep.  No  serious  breach  of  the  lines 
occurred  until  the  10th,  when  a  heavy  column  of  Fed 
erals  swept  over  the  Confederate  breastworks  and  pen 
etrated  some  distance  in  their  rear. 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  273 

Burnside  was  at  this  time  operating  on  Lee's  right 
wing,  while  Warren,  Hancock,  and  Mott  concentrated 
•upon  our  centre  and  assaulted  with  immense  vigor. 
Warren  and  Mott  were  both  driven  back  with  heavy 
loss,  but  the  gallant  Union  commander,  Upton,  broke 
over  the  Confederate  breastworks,  capturing  artillery 
and  prisoners,  and  was  sweeping  in  column  to  our  rear. 
It  was  a  critical  moment,  but  my  troops  in  reserve, 
being  quickly  joined  by  those  of  Daniel  and  Steuart, 
were  thrown  across  Upton's  front,  and  at  the  command 
"  Fire !  "  the  Confederates  poured  consuming  volleys  into 
the  Union  ranks,  wounding  General  Upton,  shattering 
his  forces,  retaking  the  captured  artillery,  and  reestab 
lishing  Lee's  lines.  General  Daniel  was  killed  while 
leading  his  men  with  characteristic  impetuosity.  The 
fighting  on  the  10th  of  May  at  Spottsylvania  ended  with 
this  charge  by  the  Federals  and  their  bloody  repulse,  in 
which  more  than  5000  dead  and  wounded  were  left  in 
front  of  the  Confederate  works.  On  the  same  day,  but 
on  a  different  field,  the  South  sustained  a  great  loss  in 
the  death  of  General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  who  was  killed  in 
a  cavalry  fight  with  Sheridan's  command  at  Yellow 
Tavern,  Virginia,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  Confederate 
capital.  Stuart  had  few  equals  as  a  commander  of  cav 
alry  on  either  side  or  in  any  war,  and  his  fall  was  a 
serious  blow  to  that  branch  of  Lee's  army.  Stuart's 
temperament,  his  exuberance  of  spirit,  his  relish  for 
adventure,  and  his  readiness  of  resource  in  extremity, 
added  to  a  striking  personality  and  charm  of  manner 
which  greatly  enhanced  his  influence  over  his  men,  com 
bined  to  make  him  an  ideal  leader  for  that  dashing  arm 
of  the  service.  General  Lee  and  his  whole  army,  as  well 
as  the  authorities  at  Richmond,  were  profoundly  grieved 
at  his  fall.  As  soon  as  his  death  was  reported,  General 
Lee  at  once  withdrew  to  his  tent,  saying :  "  I  can  scarcely 
think  of  him  without  weeping." 


274    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Night  and  day  my  troops  were  on  watch  or  moving. 
At  one  point  or  another,  there  was  almost  continuous 
fighting;  but  in  comparison  with  what  followed,  this 
was  only  the  muttering  of  a  storm  that  was  to  break 
with  almost  inconceivable  fury  on  the  morning  of  the 
12th  of  May. 

During  the  night  preceding  May  12,  1864,  the  report 
brought  by  scouts  of  some  unusual  movements  in  Gen 
eral  Grant's  army  left  little  doubt  that  a  heavy  blow  was 
soon  to  fall  on  some  portion  of  the  Confederate  lines ; 
but  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  reliable  information  as 
to  whether  it  was  to  descend  upon  some  part  of  that 
wide  and  long  crescent  or  upon  one  of  the  wings.  It 
came  at  last  where  it  was  perhaps  least  expected— at  a 
point  on  the  salient  from  which  a  large  portion  of  the 
artillery  had  been  withdrawn  for  use  elsewhere. 

Before  daylight  on  May  12th  the  assault  was  made  by 
Hancock,  who  during  the  night  had  massed  his  corps 
close  to  that  extreme  point  of  the  semicircle  which  was 
held  by  the  command  of  General  Edward  Johnson  of 
Virginia.  For  several  hours  after  sunrise  dense  clouds 
obscured  the  sun,  and  a  heavy  mist,  which  almost 
amounted  to  a  rain,  intensified  the  gloom. 

At  about  4:30  or  5  A.M.  a  soldier,  one  of  the  vedettes 
stationed  during  the  night  at  different  points  to  listen 
for  any  unusual  sounds,  came  hurriedly  in  from  the 
front  and  said  to  me :  "  General,  I  think  there 's  some 
thing  wrong  down  in  the  woods  near  where  General 
Edward  Johnson's  men  are." 

"  Why  do  you  think  so  ?  There 's  been  no  unusual 
amount  of  firing." 

"  No,  sir ;  there 's  been  very  little  firing.  But  I  tell  you, 
sir,  there  are  some  mighty  strange  sounds  down  there 
—  something  like  officers  giving  commands,  and  a  jumble 
of  voices." 

In  the  next  few   minutes,  before    saddles  could  be 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  275 

strapped  on  the  officers'  horses  and  cartridge-boxes  on 
the  men,  report  after  report  in  quick  succession  reached 
me,  each  adding  its  quota  of  information;  and  finally 
there  came  the  positive  statement  that  the  enemy  had 
carried  the  outer  angle  on  General  Edward  Johnson's 
front  and  seemed  to  be  moving  in  rear  of  our  works. 
There  had  been,  and  still  were,  so  few  discharges  of  small 
arms  (not  a  heavy  gun  had  been  fired)  that  it  was  diffi 
cult  to  believe  the  reports  true.  But  they  were  accurate. 

During  the  night  Hancock  had  massed  a  large  portion 
of  General  Grant's  army  in  front  of  that  salient,  and  so 
near  to  it  that,  with  a  quick  rush,  his  column  had  gone 
over  the  breastworks,  capturing  General  Edward  John 
son  and  General  George  Steuart  and  the  great  body  of 
their  men  before  these  alert  officers  or  their  trained 
soldiers  were  aware  of  the  movement.  The  surprise 
was  complete  and  the  assault  practically  unresisted. 
In  all  its  details — its  planning,  its  execution,  and  its  fear 
ful  import  to  Lee's  army— this  charge  of  Hancock  was 
one  of  that  great  soldier?s  most  brilliant  achievements. 

Meantime  my  command  was  rapidly  moving  by  the 
flank  through  the  woods  and  underbrush  toward  the 
captured  salient.  The  mist  and  fog  were  so  heavy  that 
it  was  impossible  to  see  farther  than  a  few  rods. 
Throwing  out  in  front  a  small  force  to  apprise  us  of  our 
near  approach  to  the  enemy,  I  rode  at  the  head  of  the 
main  column,  and  by  my  side  rode  General  Robert 
Johnson,  who  commanded  a  brigade  of  North  Caro 
linians.  So  rapidly  and  silently  had  the  enemy  moved 
inside  of  our  works — indeed,  so  much  longer  time  had 
he  been  on  the  inside  than  the  reports  indicated— that 
before  we  had  moved  one  half  the  distance  to  the  salient 
the  head  of  my  column  butted  squarely  against  Han 
cock's  line  of  battle.  The  men  who  had  been  placed  in 
our  front  to  give  warning  were  against  that  battle  line 
before  they  knew  it.  They  were  shot  down  or  made 


276  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

prisoners.  The  sudden  and  unexpected  blaze  from 
Hancock's  rifles  made  the  dark  woodland  strangely  lurid. 
General  Johnson,  who  rode  immediately  at  my  side,  was 
shot  from  his  horse,  severely  but  not,  as  I  supposed, 
fatally  wounded  in  the  head.  His  brigade  was  thrown 
inevitably  into  great  confusion,  but  did  not  break  to  the 
rear.  As  quickly  as  possible,  I  had  the  next  ranking 
officer  in  that  brigade  notified  of  General  Johnson's  fall 
and  directed  him  at  once  to  assume  command.  He 
proved  equal  to  the  emergency.  With  great  coolness 
and  courage  he  promptly  executed  my  orders.  The 
Federals  were  still  advancing,  and  every  movement  of 
the  North  Carolina  brigade  had  to  be  made  under  heavy 
fire.  The  officer  in  charge  was  directed  to  hastily  with 
draw  his  brigade  a  short  distance,  to  change  front  so  as 
to  face  Hancock's  lines,  and  to  deploy  his  whole  force  in 
close  order  as  skirmishers,  so  as  to  stretch,  if  possible, 
across  the  entire  front  of  Hancock.  This  done,  he  was 
ordered  to  charge  with  his  line  of  skirmishers  the  solid 
battle  lines  before  him.  His  looks  indicated  some 
amazement  at  the  purpose  to  make  an  attack  which 
appeared  so  utterly  hopeless,  and  which  would  have 
been  the  very  essence  of  rashness  but  for  the  extremity 
of  the  situation.  He  was,  however,  full  of  the  fire  of 
battle  and  too  good  a  soldier  not  to  yield  prompt  and 
cheerful  obedience.  That  order  was  given  in  the  hope 
and  belief  that  in  the  fog  and  mists  which  concealed 
our  numbers  the  sheer  audacity  of  the  movement  would 
confuse  and  check  the  Union  advance  long  enough  for 
me  to  change  front  and  form  line  of  battle  with  the 
other  brigades.  The  result  was  not  disappointing  ex 
cept  in  the  fact  that  Johnson's  brigade,  even  when  so 
deployed,  was  still  too  short  to  reach  across  Hancock's 
entire  front.  This  fact  was  soon  developed:  not  by 
sight,  but  by  the  direction  from  which  the  Union  bullets 
began  to  come. 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  277 

When  the  daring  charge  of  the  North  Carolina  brigade 
had  temporarily  checked  that  portion  of  the  Federal 
forces  struck  by  it,  and  while  my  brigades  in  the  rear 
were  being  placed  in  position,  I  rode  with  Thomas  G. 
Jones,  the  youngest  member  of  my  staff,  into  the  inter 
vening  woods,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  locate  Hancock 
more  definitely.  Sitting  on  my  horse  near  the  line  of 
the  North  Carolina  brigade,  I  was  endeavoring  to  get  a 
view  of  the  Union  lines,  through  the  woods  and  through 
the  gradually  lifting  mists.  It  was  impossible,  however, 
to  see  those  lines;  but,  as  stated,  the  direction  from 
which  they  sent  their  bullets  soon  informed  us  that  they 
were  still  moving  and  had  already  gone  beyond  our 
right.  One  of  those  bullets  passed  through  my  coat 
from  side  to  side,  just  grazing  my  back.  Jones,  who  was 
close  to  me,  and  sitting  on  his  horse  in  a  not  very  erect 
posture,  anxiously  inquired :  "  General,  did  n't  that  ball 
hit  you  ? " 

"  No,"  I  said ;  "  but  suppose  my  back  had  been  in  a 
bow  like  yours?  Don't  you  see  that  the  bullet  would 
have  gone  straight  through  my  spine !  Sit  up  or  you  '11 
be  killed." 

The  sudden  jerk  with  which  he  straightened  himself, 
and  the  duration  of  the  impression  made,  showed  that 
this  ocular  demonstration  of  the  necessity  for  a  soldier 
to  sit  upright  on  his  horse  had  been  more  effective  than 
all  the  ordinary  lessons  that  could  have  been  given.  It 
is  but  simple  justice  to  say  of  this  immature  boy  that 
even  then  his  courage,  his  coolness  in  the  presence  of 
danger,  and  his  strong  moral  and  mental  characteristics 
gave  promise  of  his  brilliant  future. 

The  bullets  from  Hancock's  rifles  furnished  the  infor 
mation  which  I  was  seeking  as  to  the  progress  he  had 
made  within  and  along  our  earthworks.  I  then  took 
advantage  of  this  brief  check  given  to  the  Union  ad 
vance,  and  placed  my  troops  in  line  for  a  countercharge, 


278    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

upon  the  success  or  failure  of  which  the  fate  of  the  Con 
federate  army  seemed  to  hang.  General  Lee  evidently 
thought  so.  His  army  had  been  cut  in  twain  by  Han 
cock's  brilliant  coup  de  main.  Through  that  wide  breach 
in  the  Confederate  lines,  which  was  becoming  wider  with 
every  step,  the  Union  forces  were  rushing  like  a  swollen 
torrent  through  a  broken  mill-dam.  General  Lee  knew, 
as  did  every  one  else  who  realized  the  momentous  im 
port  of  the  situation,  that  the  bulk  of  the  Confederate 
army  was  in  such  imminent  peril  that  nothing  could 
rescue  it  except  a  counter-movement,  quick,  impetuous, 
and  decisive.  Lee  resolved  to  save  it,  and,  if  need  be, 
to  save  it  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  life.  With  perfect 
self -poise,  he  rode  to  the  margin  of  that  breach,  and  ap 
peared  upon  the  scene  just  as  I  had  completed  the  align 
ment  of  my  troops  and  was  in  the  act  of  moving  in  that 
crucial  countercharge  upon  which  so  much  depended. 
As  he  rode  majestically  in  front  of  my  line  of  battle, 
with  uncovered  head  and  mounted  on  Old  Traveller, 
Lee  looked  a  very  god  of  war.  Calmly  and  grandly, 
he  rode  to  a  point  near  the  centre  of  my  line  and  turned 
his  horse's  head  to  the  front,  evidently  resolved  to  lead  in 
person  the  desperate  charge  and  drive  Hancock  back  or 
perish  in  the  effort.  I  knew  what  he  meant;  and 
although  the  passing  moments  were  of  priceless  value, 
I  resolved  to  arrest  him  in  his  effort,  and  thus  save  to 
the  Confederacy  the  life  of  its  great  leader.  I  was 
at  the  centre  of  that  line  when  General  Lee  rode  to  it. 
With  uncovered  head,  he  turned  his  face  to  ward  Hancock's 
advancing  column.  Instantly  I  spurred  my  horse  across 
Old  Traveller's  front,  and  grasping  his  bridle  in  my 
hand,  I  checked  him.  Then,  in  a  voice  which  I  hoped 
might  reach  the  ears  of  my  men  and  command  their  at 
tention,  I  called  out,  "General  Lee,  you  shall  not  lead 
my  men  in  a  charge.  No  man  can  do  that,  sir.  Another 
is  here  tor  that  purpose.  These  men  behind  you  are 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  279 

Georgians,  Virginians,  and  Carolinians.  They  have 
never  failed  you  on  any  field.  They  will  not  fail  you 
here.  Will  you,  boys?"  The  response  came  like  a 
mighty  anthem  that  must  have  stirred  his  emotions  as 
no  other  music  could  have  done.  Although  the  answer 
to  those  three  words,  "Will  you,  boys?"  came  in  the 
monosyllables,  "No,  no,  no ;  we  '11  not  fail  him,"  yet  they 
were  doubtless  to  him  more  eloquent  because  of  their 
simplicity  and  momentous  meaning.  But  his  great 
heart  was  destined  to  be  quickly  cheered  by  a  still  sub- 
limer  testimony  of  their  deathless  devotion.  As  this 
first  thrilling  response  died  away,  I  uttered  the  words 
for  which  they  were  now  fully  prepared.  I  shouted  to 
General  Lee,  "You  must  go  to  rear."  The  echo,  "Gen 
eral  Lee  to  the  rear,  General  Lee  to  the  rear ! "  rolled  back 
with  tremendous  emphasis  from  the  throats  of  my  men ; 
and  they  gathered  around  him,  turned  his  horse  in  the 
opposite  direction,  some  clutching  his  bridle,  some  his 
stirrups,  while  others  pressed  close  to  Old  Traveller's 
hips,  ready  to  shove  him  by  main  force  to  the  rear.  I 
verily  believe  that,  had  it  been  necessary  or  possible,  they 
would  have  carried  on  their  shoulders  both  horse  and 
rider  to  a  place  of  safety. 

This  entire  scene,  with  all  its  details  of  wonderful  pathos 
and  deep  meaning,  had  lasted  but  a  few  minutes,  and  yet 
it  was  a  powerful  factor  in  the  rescue  of  Lee's  army.  It 
had  lifted  these  soldiers  to  the  very  highest  plane  of 
martial  enthusiasm.  The  presence  of  their  idolized 
commander-in-chief,  his  purpose  to  lead  them  in  person, 
his  magnetic  and  majestic  presence,  and  the  spontaneous 
pledges  which  they  had  just  made  to  him,  all  conspired 
to  fill  them  with  an  ardor  and  intensity  of  emotion  such 
as  have  rarely  possessed  a  body  of  troops  in  any  war. 
The  most  commonplace  soldier  was  uplifted  and  trans 
formed  into  a  veritable  Ajax.  To  say  that  every  man  in 
those  brigades  was  prepared  for  the  most  heroic  work  or 


280    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

to  meet  a  heroic  death  would  be  but  a  lame  description 
of  the  impulse  which  seemed  to  bear  them  forward  in 
wildest  transport.  Fully  realizing  the  value  of  such 
inspiration  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  bloody  task 
assigned  them,  I  turned  to  my  men  as  Lee  was  forced 
to  the  rear,  and  reminding  them  of  their  pledges  to  him, 
and  of  the  fact  that  the  eyes  of  their  great  leader  were 
still  upon  them,  I  ordered,  "Forward!"  With  the  fury 
of  a  cyclone,  and  almost  with  its  resistless  power,  they 
rushed  upon  Hancock's  advancing  column.  With  their 
first  terrific  onset,  the  impetuosity  of  which  was  inde 
scribable,  his  leading  lines  were  shivered  and  hurled 
back  upon  their  stalwart  supports.  In  the  inextricable 
confusion  that  followed,  and  before  Hancock's  lines  could 
be  reformed,  every  officer  on  horseback  in  my  division, 
the  brigade  and  regimental  commanders,  and  my  own 
superb  staff,  were  riding  among  the  troops,  shouting  in 
unison :  "  Forward,  men,  forward !  "  But  the  brave  line 
officers  on  foot  and  the  enthused  privates  needed  no 
additional  spur  to  their  already  rapt  spirits.  Onward 
they  swept,  pouring  their  rapid  volleys  into  Hancock's 
confused  ranks,  and  swelling  the  deafening  din  of  battle 
with  their  piercing  shouts.  Like  the  debris  in  the  track 
of  a  storm,  the  dead  and  dying  of  both  armies  were  left 
in  the  wake  of  this  Confederate  charge.  In  the  mean 
time  the  magnificent  troops  of  Ramseur  and  Rodes  were 
rushing  upon  Hancock's  dissolving  corps  from  another 
point,  and  Long's  artillery  and  other  batteries  were  pour 
ing  a  deadly  fire  into  the  broken  Federal  ranks.  Han 
cock  was  repulsed  and  driven  out.  Every  foot  of  the 
lost  salient  and  earthworks  was  retaken,  except  that 
small  stretch  which  the  Confederate  line  was  too  short 
to  cover. 

These  glorious  troops  had  redeemed  the  pledge  which 
they  had  sent  ringing  through  the  air,  thrilling  the  spirit 
of  Lee:  "No,  we  will  not  fail  him."  Grandly  had  they 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  281 

redeemed  it,  and  at  fearful  cost;  but  the  living  were 
happy,  and  I  verily  believe  that  if  the  dead  could  have 
spoken,  they,  too,  would  have  assured  him  of  their 
compensation  in  the  rescue  of  his  army  Among  the 
gallant  men  who  gave  up  their  lives  here  was  the  accom 
plished  and  knightly  Major  Daniel  Hale  of  Maryland,  who 
served  upon  General  Early's  staff  He  was  so  wrought  up 
by  the  enthusiasm  which  fired  the  troops  that  he  insisted 
on  accompanying  me  through  the  battle.  Riding  at  my 
side,  and  joining  in  the  exultant  shouts  of  the  men  over 
the  wild  pursuit,  he  had  passed  unscathed  through  the 
heaviest  fire ;  but  at  the  very  climax  of  the  victory  he 
fell  dead  upon  the  recaptured  breastworks  as  we  spurred 
our  horses  across  them.1 

If  speculation  be  desired  as  to  what  would  have  been 
the  result  of  failure  in  that  fearful  assault  upon  Hancock, 
some  other  pen  must  be  invoked  for  the  task.  It  is 
enough  for  me  to  repeat  in  this  connection  that  the  two 
wings  of  Lee's  army  had  been  completely  and  widely 
severed j  that  Hancock,  who  was  justly  called  "the 
Superb,"  and  who  was  one  of  the  boldest  of  fighters 
and  most  accomplished  of  soldiers,  was  in  that  breach 
and  literally  revelling  in  his  victory,  as  evidenced  by  his 

l  General  A.  L.  Long,  who  served  for  a  time  on  General  Lee's  staff  as  military 
secretary,  describes,  in  his  "Memoirs  of  Lee,"  p.  338,  the  effort  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  to  lead  rny  troops  in  the  desperate  charge,  and  says  :  "  Dur 
ing  the  hottest  portion  of  this  engagement,  when  the  Federals  were  pouring 
through  the  broken  Confederate  lines  and  disaster  seemed  imminent,  General 
Lee  rode  forward  and  took  his  position  at  the  head  of  General  Gordon's  col 
umn,  then  preparing  to  charge.  Perceiving  that  it  was  his  intention  to  lead  the 
charge,  Gordon  spurred  hastily  to  his  side,  seized  the  reins  of  his  horse,  and 
excitedly  cried :  '  General  Lee,  this  is  no  place  for  you.  .  .  .  These  are 
Virginians  and  Georgians— men  who  have  never  failed,  and  they  will  not 
fail  now.  Will  you,  boys?'  "  Then,  giving  the  thrilling  reply  of  the  men, 
and  describing  my  order  and  appeal  to  them,  General  Long  adds :  "  The 
charge  that  followed  was  fierce  and  telling,  and  the  Federals,  who  had 
entered  the  lines,  were  hurled  back  before  the  resolute  advance  of  Gordon's 
gallant  men.  The  works  were  retaken,  the  Confederate  line  again  established, 
and  an  impending  disaster  converted  into  a  brilliant  victory  " 


282  REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

characteristic  field  despatch  to  General  Grant :  "  I  have 
used  up  Johnson  and  am  going  into  Early" ;  that  through 
this  fearful  breach  Grant  could  quickly  hurl  the  bulk  of 
his  army  upon  the  right  and  left  flanks  of  Lee's  wings, 
which  were  now  cleft  asunder;  and  that  Lee  himself 
thought  that  the  time  had  come,  as  such  times  do  come 
in  the  experience  of  all  truly  great  leaders,  when  the 
crisis  demanded  that  the  commander-in-chief  should  in 
person  lead  the  "  forlorn  hope." 

Long  afterward,  when  the  last  bitter  trial  at  Appo- 
mattox  came,  Lee's  overburdened  spirit  recurred  to  that 
momentous  hour  at  Spottsylvania,  and  he  lamented  that 
he  had  not  been  permitted  to  fall  in  that  furious  charge 
or  in  some  subsequent  battle. 

As  above  stated,  there  was  a  short  stretch  of  the  Con 
federate  works  still  left  in  dispute.  All  that  portion  to 
the  right  of  the  salient,  the  salient  itself  over  which 
Hancock  had  charged,  and  where  General  Edward  John 
son  and  his  troops  were  captured,  and  a  portion  of  our 
works  to  the  left  of  the  salient,  had  been  retaken.  There 
was  not  one  Union  soldier  left  with  arms  in  his  hands 
inside  of  that  great  crescent.  All  had  been  repulsed  and 
driven  out;  but  these  daring  men  in  blue  still  stood 
against  the  outer  slope  of  the  short  line  of  intrenchrnent 
which  had  not  been  struck  by  the  Confederate  hurricane. 

There  on  that  short  stretch  of  breastworks  occurred 
the  unparalleled  fighting  of  which  I  have  made  brief 
mention.  The  questions  have  often  been  asked:  Why 
did  the  commanders  of  the  two  armies  put  forth  such 
herculean  efforts  over  so  short  a  line?  In  what  re 
spect  was  this  small  space  of  earthworks  so  essential  to 
either  army  as  to  justify  the  expenditure  of  tons  of  lead 
and  barrels  of  blood?  I  will  endeavor  to  make  clear 
the  answer  to  these  very  natural  inquiries.  That  short 
reach  of  works  was  an  integral  part  of  Lee's  battle  line. 
The  Confederates  held  the  inside  of  it,  the  Federals  the 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  283 

outside.  These  high-spirited  American  foemen  were 
standing  against  the  opposite  slopes  of  the  same  works, 
and  so  close  together  that  they  could  almost  thrust  their 
bayonets  into  one  another's  breasts.  If  Lee  could  drive 
Grant's  men  from  the  outer  slope  his  entire  line  would 
be  completely  reestablished.  If  Grant  could  drive  the 
Confederates  from  the  inner  slope  he  would  hold  a  breach 
in  their  lines,  narrow  it  is  true,  but  still  a  breach,  through 
which  he  might  again  force  his  way,  riving  Lee's  army 
a  second  time,  as  the  rail-splitter's  wedge  rives  the 
timber  as  it  is  driven  into  the  narrow  crack.  Therefore, 
the  complete  possession  by  the  Federals  of  that  disputed 
section  meant  to  Grant  a  coveted  opportunity.  To  Lee 
it  meant  a  serious  menace.  Neither  could  afford  to  sur 
render  so  important  a  point  without  a  desperate  struggle ; 
and  the  followers  of  both  seemed  intuitively  to  compre 
hend  the  situation,  and  to  be  prepared  for  any  exaction 
of  blood  or  life  which  it  might  make  upon  them. 

Of  that  struggle  at  Spottsylvania  I  write  as  an  eye 
witness  and  not  from  hearsay.  It  was  a  drama  of  three 
great  acts.  The  first  act  was  Hancock's  charge.  The 
second  was  the  Confederate  countercharge.  The  third 
and  last  was  the  night-and-day  wrestle  of  the  giants  on 
the  same  breastworks.  The  whole  of  that  long  and  gory 
drama  upon  which  the  curtain  rose  in  the  morning  mists 
of  the  12th,  and  did  not  fall  for  more  than  twenty  hours, 
is  as  vivid  and  real  to  me  now  as  it  was  the  day  after  it 
was  enacted.  Each  act  of  it  differed  from  the  preceding 
act  in  no  respect  except  in  shifting  the  scene  from  one 
bloody  phase  to  another  still  more  bloody,  from  its  begin 
ning  with  Hancock's  charge  in  the  darkness  to  its  end 
ing  twenty  hours  later  in  the  succeeding  night,  amidst 
the  incessant  flashes  of  the  battle-storm.  Its  second 
act  had  been  played  under  Lee's  eye,  and  largely  by  that 
splendid  soldiery  whom  it  was  my  fortune  and  pride  to 
command ;  but  even  that  did  not  end  their  share  of  the 


284  BEMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAK 

performance.  As  soon  as  it  was  ascertained  that  the  Con 
federate  lines  had  been  too  short  to  stretch  across  the 
whole  of  the  wide-spreading  crescent,  and  that  the  outer 
slope  of  a  portion  of  Lee's  works  was  still  held  by  Grant's 
stalwart  fighters,  the  third  and  last  act  of  that  memor 
able  performance  was  opened.  Under  my  orders,  and  under 
cover  of  the  intrenchment,  my  men  began  to  slip  to  the 
left  a  few  feet  at  a  time,  in  order  to  occupy,  unobserved 
if  possible,  that  still  open  space.  The  ditch  along  which 
they  slowly  glided,  and  from  which  the  earth  had  been 
thrown  to  form  the  embankment,  favored  them;  but 
immediately  opposite  to  them  and  within  a  few  feet  of 
them  on  the  outer  side  stood  their  keen-eyed,  alert 
foemen,  holding  to  their  positions  with  a  relentless  grip. 
This  noiseless  sliding  process  had  not  proceeded  far  be 
fore  it  was  discovered  by  the  watchful  men  in  blue.  The 
discovery  was  made  at  the  moment  when  Lee  arid  Grant 
began  to  hurl  their  columns  against  that  portion  of  the 
works  held  by  both.  Thus  was  inaugurated  that  roll  of 
musketry  which  is  likely  to  remain  without  a  parallel,  at 
least  in  the  length  of  time  it  lasted. 

Mounting  to  the  crest  of  the  embankment,  the  Union 
men  poured  upon  the  Confederates  a  galling  hre.  To 
the  support  of  the  latter  other  Confederate  commands 
quickly  came,  crowding  into  the  ditches,  clambering  up 
the  embankment's  side,  and  returning  volley  for  volley. 
Then  followed  the  mighty  rush  from  both  armies,  filling 
the  entire  disputed  space.  Firing  into  one  another's  faces, 
beating  one  another  down  with  clubbed  muskets,  the 
front  ranks  fought  across  the  embankment's  crest  almost 
within  an  arm's  reach,  the  men  behind  passing  up  to 
them  freshly  loaded  rifles  as  their  own  were  emptied. 
As  those  in  front  fell,  others  quickly  sprang  forward  to 
take  their  places.  On  both  sides  the  dead  were  piled  in 
heaps.  As  Confederates  fell  their  bodies  rolled  into  the 
ditch,  and  upon  their  bleeding  forms  their  living  com- 


SPOTTSYLVANIA  285 

rades  stood,  beating  back  Grant's  furiously  charging 
columns.  The  bullets  seemed  to  fly  in  sheets.  Before 
the  pelting  hail  and  withering  blast  the  standing  timber 
fell.  The  breastworks  were  literally  drenched  in  blood. 
The  coming  of  the  darkness  failed  to  check  the  raging 
battle.  It  only  served  to  increase  the  awful  terror  of 
the  scene. 

As  I  now  recall  that  scene,  looking  back  to  it  over 
the  intervening  years  and  with  the  calmer  thought  and 
clearer  perceptions  that  come  in  more  advanced  age,  I 
am  still  more  deeply  impressed  with  the  conviction  that, 
considered  in  all  its  phases,  this  battle  between  Ameri 
cans  on  the  12th  of  May  and  the  succeeding  night  at 
Spottsylvania  has  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of  war. 
Considered  merely  in  their  sanguinary  character,— the 
number  of  lives  lost,  the  area  over  which  they  extended, 
and  the  panorama  presented  by  vast  armies  manoeu 
vring,  charging,  repelling,  retreating,  and  reforming,— 
many  of  the  battles  of  our  Civil  War  surpassed  it. 
Among  these  were  Chickamauga,  Gettysburg,  Chancel- 
lorsville,  Cold  Harbor,  the  battles  around  Atlanta, 
Fredericksburg,  Sharpsburg,  or  Antietam,  and  perhaps 
Shiloh  and  Franklin,  Tennessee.  But  to  Spottsylvania 
history  will  accord  the  palm,  I  am  sure,  for  having  fur 
nished  an  unexampled  muzzle-to-muzzle  fire ;  the  longest 
roll  of  incessant,  unbroken  musketry ;  the  most  splendid 
exhibition  of  individual  heroism  and  personal  daring 
by  large  numbers,  who,  standing  in  the  freshly  spilt 
blood  of  their  fellows,  faced  for  so  long  a  period  and  at 
so  short  a  range  the  flaming  rifles  as  they  heralded  the 
decrees  of  death. 

This  heroism  was  confined  to  neither  side.  It  was 
exhibited  by  both  armies,  and  in  that  hand-to-hand 
struggle  for  the  possession  of  the  breastworks  it  seemed 
almost  universal.  It  would  be  a  commonplace  truism 
to  say  that  such  examples  will  not  be  lost  to  the  Ee- 


286  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

public.  The  thought  has  found  its  expression  in  a 
thousand  memorial  addresses  in  every  section  of  the 
Union ;  but  in  the  spectacle  then,  as  in  the  contempla 
tion  now,  there  was  much  that  was  harrowing  as  well 
as  inspiring.  The  gifted  Father  Ryan,  Southern  patriot 
and  poet,  writing  of  the  South's  sacrifices  in  war,  of  her 
sufferings  in  final  defeat,  and  of  the  record  made  by  her 
sons,  said: 

There  's  a  glory  in  gloom, 
And  a  grandeur  in  graves. 

And  he  wrote  truly.  The  pathos  of  this  wail,  like  that 
of  the  Roman  adage,  "  Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patria 
mori,"  or  of  those  still  nobler  words,  "  The  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church,"  will  impress  every 
one  who  reads  it  and  who  appreciates  the  grandeur  of  a 
man  who  is  ready  to  die  for  his  convictions.1 

1  As  proof  that  the  description  I  have  given  of  the  horrible  scenes  of  the 
12th  of  May  is  not  overdrawn,  and  that  no  language  could  exaggerate  either 
the  heroism  or  the  horrors  of  that  battle,  I  give  two  extracts  from  Northern 
writers.  Swinton,  in  his  "History  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,"  says  :  "  Of 
all  the  struggles  of  the  war,  this  was  perhaps  the  fiercest  and  most  deadly." 
He  then  describes  the  charges,  and  states  that  the  fearful  slaughter  con 
tinued  "till  the  ground  was  literally  covered  with  piles  of  the  dead  and  the 
woods  in  front  of  the  salient  were  one  hideous  Golgotha." 

General  Horace  Porter,  of  General  Grant's  staff,  says  :  "  The  battle  near 
the  '  Angle '  was  probably  the  most  desperate  engagement  in  modern  war 
fare.  .  .  .  Rank  after  rank  was  riddled  by  shot  and  shell  arid  bayonet 
thrusts,  and  finally  sank,  a  mass  of  torn  and  mutilated  corpses.  .  .  .  Trees 
over  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter  were  cut  completely  in  two  by  the  inces 
sant  musketry  fire.  .  .  .  We  had  not  only  shot  down  an  army,  but  also  a 
forest.  .  .  .  Skulls  were  crushed  with  clubbed  muskets,  and  men  were 
stabbed  to  death  with  swords  and  bayonets  thrust  between  the  logs  of  the 
parapet  which  separated  the  combatants.  .  .  .  Even  the  darkness  .  .  . 
failed  to  stop  the  fierce  contest,  and  the  deadly  strife  did  not  cease  till 
after  midnight."  General  Porter  then  describes  the  scene  which  met  him 
on  his  visit  to  that  Angle  the  next  day,  and  says  that  the  dead  "were  piled 
upon  each  other  in  some  places  four  layers  deep.  .  .  .  Below  the  mass  of 
fast-decaying  corpses,  the  convulsive  twitching  of  limbs  and  the  writhing  of 
bodies  showed  that  there  were  wounded  men  still  alive  and  struggling  to 
extricate  themselves  from  their  horrid  entombment." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

MOVEMENTS  AFTEE  SPOTTSYLVANIA 

A  surprising  capture— Kind  treatment  received  by  prisoners— Fiv« 
rainy  days  of  inaction— Fighting  resumed  on  May  18  — Hancock's 
corps  ordered  to  the  assault— General  Grant's  order  to  Meade; 
"Where  Lee  goes,  there  you  will  go  also  "  —  How  Lee  turned  the 
tables— Fighting  it  out  on  this  line  all  summer— Lee's  men  still 
resolute  after  the  Wilderness. 

AS  Hancock's  troops  were  driven  out  of  our  lines  on 
the  morning  of  the  12th,  the  commander  of  one  of 
my  regiments,  Colonel  Davant  of  the  Thirty-eighth 
Georgia,  became  so  enthused  that  he  ran  in  pursuit 
ahead  of  his  men,  and  passed  some  distance  beyond  the 
breastworks.  A  squad  of  Hancock's  retreating  men  at 
once  halted,  and,  in  the  quaint  phraseology  of  the  army, 
"  quietly  took  him  in."  Davant,  surprised  to  find  him 
self  in  the  hands  of  Hancock's  bluecoats  instead  of  in 
the  company  of  his  Confederate  comrades,  attempted 
to  give  notice  to  his  men  in  the  rear  that  he  was 
captured.  His  adjutant,  John  Gordon  Law,  my  first 
cousin,  heard  the  colonel's  call,  and  sprang  forward 
through  the  thicket  to  aid  him.  Law  was  likewise  cap 
tured,  and  was  kept  in  prison  to  the  end  of  the  war. 
He  is  now  a  prominent  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  and  delights  to  tell  of  the  great  kindness 
shown  him  by  the  guard  to  whose  care  he  was  assigned. 
The  soldier  in  blue  who  guarded  Law  was  a  private, 
and  had  no  possible  use  for  a  sword-belt ;  but  he  wanted 
it,  nevertheless.  Instead  of  taking  it  forcibly,  he  paid 

287 


288   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

for  it,  in  greenbacks,  the  full  price  named  by  Law.  In 
answer  to  Law's  lament  that  he  was  going  to  prison 
without  a  change  of  clothing  or  any  blankets,  this  gen 
erous  Union  boy  offered  to  sell  him  his  own  blankets. 
Law  replied  to  the  suggestion : 

"  I  have  no  money  to  pay  you  for  your  blankets,  ex 
cept  Confederate  bills  and  the  greenbacks  which  you 
have  just  paid  me  for  the  sword-belt." 

"  Oh,  well,"  said  the  Federal  private,  "  you  can  pay 
me  for  the  blankets  in  Confederate  money,  and  if  I 
should  be  captured  it  will  answer  my  purpose.  If  I 
should  not  be  captured  I  will  not  need  the  money. 
Give  me  your  'graybacks'  and  you  keep  my  'green 
backs  '  to  help  you  along  during  your  stay  in  Fort 
Warren." 

The  gallant  General  Edward  Johnson  of  Virginia, 
who  was  captured  at  the  salient  in  Hancock's  charge, 
heartily  reciprocated  the  cordial  greetings  of  his  West 
Point  comrades  into  whose  hands  he  came  as  prisoner 
of  war,  and  received  from  them  great  consideration  and 
soldierly  courtesy.  Such  courtesy  and  kind  treatment 
were  frequently  shown  by  the  Confederates  to  captured 
Union  officers  and  men,  and  it  is  a  special  pleasure, 
therefore,  to  record  these  instances  of  the  same  kindly 
spirit  among  the  Federals. 

The  appalling  night  scenes  of  the  12th  did  not  mark 
the  end  of  bloodshed  at  Spottsylvania,  but  only  com 
pelled  a  pause  in  the  sickening  slaughter  long  enough 
to  give  the  armies  time  to  take  breath. 

General  Lee  had  failed  to  drive  the  Federals  from  the 
outer  slope  of  that  short  and  disputed  section  of  breast 
works.  General  Grant  had  failed  to  drive  the  Confed 
erates  from  the  inner  slope  or  to  extend  his  possession 
of  the  works  either  to  the  right  or  to  the  left.  Another 
test,  therefore,  of  the  mettle  of  the  two  armies  was  to 
be  made  on  the  same  field.  Five  days  passed,  however^ 


MOVEMENTS  AFTER  SPOTTSYLVANIA    289 

before  the  Union  chief  clearly  indicated  to  his  antagonist 
his  next  move. 

The  weather  was  doubtless  largely  responsible  for  the 
delay.  The  continued  rain  had  soaked  the  ground  as 
well  as  the  jackets  and  blankets  of  the  men.  It  was 
impracticable  to  move  artillery  or  wagon-trains;  and 
while  infantry  could  march  and  fight  without  bogging 
in  the  soft  earth,  there  was  naturally  less  of  the  fighting 
tendency  under  such  conditions.  Soldiers,  in  a  certain 
sense,  are  machines ;  but  they  are  impressible,  sentient 
machines.  With  clothing  drenched,  gun-barrels  wet, 
fingers  benumbed,  and  bodies  cold,  the  flaming  enthusi 
asm  requisite  for  the  charge  was  somewhat  dormant. 

May  17th  was  a  brighter  day.  The  rain  had  ceased  and 
the  sun  and  brisk  winds  had  dried  the  clothing  of  the 
men,  and  their  spirits  responded  to  the  aspect  of  the 
bright  spring  morning. 

General  Grant  decided  to  make  another  desperate 
attempt  to  drive  Lee  from  his  position  at  Spottsylvania. 
On  the  morning  of  the  18th  he  sent  Hancock's  corps, 
reenforced  by  fully  8000  fresh  troops,  with  Wright's 
corps  to  aid  him,  back  to  the  point  where  the  assault  of 
May  12th  had  been  made.  Hancock  had  already  twice 
passed  over  this  "  Bloody  Angle,"  once  in  his  successful 
advance  and  again  upon  his  repulse  by  the  Confederate 
countercharge.  He  was  now  to  pass  the  third  time 
over  "Hell's  Half  Acre,"  another  name  by  which  this 
gory  angle  was  known.  In  this  last  effort  he  was, 
however,  to  have  the  cooperation  of  that  excellent 
corps  commander,  General  Wright.  The  attack  was  to 
be  made  by  daylight,  and  not  in  the  darkness  or  under 
cloudy  cover,  as  on  the  morning  of  the  12th,  and  not 
upon  the  same  breastworks,  but  upon  new  Confederate 
intrenchments  which  had  been  constructed  behind  them. 
General  Grant  was  to  superintend  the  daring  movement 
in  person. 


290    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

In  superb  style  and  evidently  with  high  hopes,  the 
Union  army  moved  to  the  assault.  The  Confederates, 
although  their  numbers  had  been  materially  decreased 
by  the  casualties  of  battle  and  withdrawals  from  this 
left  wing  to  strengthen  our  right,  were  ready  for  them ; 
and  as  Hancock's  and  Wright's  brave  men  climbed  over 
the  old  abandoned  works  and  debouched  from  the  inter 
vening  bushes,  a  consuming  fire  of  grape,  canister,  and 
Minie  balls  was  poured  in  incessant  volleys  upon  them. 
Such  a  fire  was  too  much  for  any  troops.  They  first 
halted  before  it,  and  staggered.  Then  they  rallied, 
moved  forward,  halted  again,  wavered,  bent  into  irregu 
lar  zigzag  lines,  and  at  last  broke  in  confusion  and  pre 
cipitate  retreat.  Again  and  again  they  renewed  the 
charge,  but  each  assault  ended,  as  the  first,  in  repulse 
and  heavy  slaughter. 

Thus  ended  the  second  series  of  battles  in  which  the 
Union  commander  had  failed  to  drive  the  Confederate 
forces  from  the  field.  In  both  Lee  had  successfully 
repelled  Grant's  assaults— first  in  the  Wilderness  and 
now  at  Spottsylvania — and  compelled  him  to  seek  other 
points  at  which  to  repeat  his  efforts. 

In  speaking  of  the  plans  marked  out  by  his  chief 
before  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1864,  General 
Porter  says :  "  It  was  the  understanding  that  Lee's  army 
was  to  be  the  objective  point  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac,  and  it  was  to  move  against  Richmond  only  in  case 
Lee  went  there."  General  Porter  further  adds  that 
General  Grant's  own  words  to  Meade  were,  "  Where  Lee 
goes,  there  you  will  go  also."  And  yet  on  the  failure  of 
these  last  desperate  assaults  upon  Lee  at  Spottsylvania, 
General  Porter  represents  his  chief  as  writing  "  an 
order  providing  for  a  general  movement  by  the  left 
flank  toward  Richmond,  to  begin  the  next  night." 

With  a  soldier's  admiration  for  General  Grant,  I  sub- 


MOVEMENTS  AFTER  SPOTTSYLVANIA    291 

mit  that  this  order  of  May  18th  is  hardly  consistent  with 
his  previously  announced  plans  of  looking  for  Lee's  army, 
and  for  nothing  else,  nor  with  his  instructions  to  Meade : 
"  Where  Lee  goes,  there  you  will  go  also."  Lee  was  not 
going  toward  Richmond  except  as  Grant  went  toward 
Richmond.  He  was  not  going  in  any  direction.  He 
was  standing  still  at  Spottsylvania  and  awaiting  the 
pleasure  of  General  Grant.  He  had  been  there  for  about 
ten  days,  and  was  showing  no  disposition  whatever  to 
run  away.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  finding  him,  and 
it  was  not  necessary  for  General  Meade  to  go  to  the 
North  Anna  or  toward  Richmond  to  find  Lee  in  order 
to  obey  intelligently  the  instructions,  "  there  you  will  go 
also." 

General  Lee  first  went  into  the  Wilderness  because 
General  Grant  had  gone  there,  and  Lee  did  not  "  get 
out  of  the  Wilderness "  until  his  antagonist  had  gone 
out  and  moved  to  another  place.  Lee  moved  to  Spott 
sylvania  because  the  Union  commander  was  moving 
there ;  and  any  movement  of  General  Meade  away  from 
Spottsylvania  would  be  going  where  Lee  was  not.  He 
was  not  on  the  Rappahannock,  where  the  Union  com 
mander  proposed  to  make  his  base ;  he  was  not  retreat 
ing,  he  was  not  hiding.  He  was  close  by  on  the  field 
which  had  been  selected  by  his  able  antagonist,  and  was 
ready  for  a  renewal  of  the  struggle. 

Verily  it  would  seem  that  Grant's  martial  shibboleth, 
"  Where  Lee  goes,  there  you  will  go  also,"  had  been 
reversed ;  for,  in  literal  truth,  Meade  was  not  going 
where  Lee  went,  but  Lee  was  going  where  Meade  went. 
It  was  General  Grant's  intention  that  General  Lee  should 
learn  from  every  Union  cannon's  brazen  throat,  from 
every  hot  muzzle  of  every  Union  rifle,  that  nothing  could 
prevent  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  from  following  him 
until  the  Confederate  hosts  were  swept  from  the  over 
land  highways  to  Richmond.  The  impartial  verdict  of 


292   REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

history,  however,  and  the  testimony  of  every  bloody 
field  on  which  these  great  American  armies  met  in  this 
overland  campaign,  from  the  Wilderness  to  the  water 
route  and  to  the  south  side  of  the  James,  must  necessa 
rily  be  that  the  going  where  the  other  goes  was  more 
literally  the  work  of  Lee  than  of  Grant. 

On  May  11,  1864,  at  Spottsylvania,  that  remarkable 
letter  was  written  to  General  Halleck  by  General  Grant 
in  which  he  used  those  words  which  became  at  once 
famous:  "I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
all  summer."  This  declaration  by  the  illustrious  com 
mander  of  the  Union  army  evidenced  that  wonderful 
tenacity  of  purpose  upon  which  General  Lee  had  com 
mented  previously  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  in  the 
Wilderness. 

General  Grant  was  not  quite  explicit  as  to  what  he 
meant  by  "  this  line."  If  he  meant  the  overland  route 
to  Richmond  which  McDowell  and  Pope  and  Burnside 
and  Hooker  had  each  essayed  and  on  which  each  had 
failed,  as  distinguished  from  the  water  route  by  the 
James  River,  which  McClellan  had  attempted,  General 
Grant  found  reasons  to  change  his  mind  before  the 
summer  was  ended.  He  did  not  "fight  it  out  on  this 
line";  for,  long  before  the  "all  summer"  limit  which  he 
had  set  was  reached,  the  Union  army  found  itself  on  an 
entirely  different  line — the  James  River  or  McClellan 
line.  It  will  be  noted  that  this  celebrated  letter  of 
General  Grant  was  written  prior  to  the  twenty  hours  of 
death-struggle  on  the  12th  of  May.  Had  he  waited 
forty-eight  hours,  that  letter  probably  never  would  have 
been  penned. 

Martin  Luther  once  said :  "  Great  soldiers  make  not 
many  words,  but  when  they  speak  the  deed  is  done." 
General  Grant  measured  up  to  Martin  Luther's  stan 
dard.  He  was  a  soldier  of  prompt  and  resolute  action 
and  of  few  words;  but  the  few  words  he  did  speak  in 


MOVEMENTS  AFTER  SPOTTSYLVANIA    293 

that  letter  to  General  Halleck  would  now  seem  to  indi 
cate  that  he  overestimated  the  value  of  numbers  and 
underestimated  the  steadfastness  of  the  small  army  that 
opposed  him.  He  was  led  to  say  to  General  Halleek  in 
that  same  letter:  "I  am  satisfied  that  the  enemy  are 
very  shaky,  and  are  only  kept  up  to  the  mark  by  the 
greatest  exertion  on  the  part  of  their  officers."  This 
opinion  of  the  morale  of  Lee's  army  General  Grant  had 
abundant  reasons  to  change,  as  he  did  to  change  his 
determination  to  "  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
all  summer."  The  simple  truth  is,  as  General  Grant 
afterward  must  have  learned,  there  was  no  period  of  the 
war,  since  the  day  on.  which  Lee  assumed  the  command, 
when  his  army  as  a  whole  was  less  "  shaky,"  more  stead 
fast,  more  self-reliant,  more  devoted  to  its  great  leader 
and  to  the  Southern  cause.  There  was  no  period  when 
that  army  more  constantly  exhibited  "  a  spirit  yet  un- 
quelled  and  high"  than  during  the  fearful  experiences 
of  1864. 

Fragments  of  broken  iron  are  welded  closest  and 
strongest  in  the  hottest  fires.  So  the  shattered  corps 
of  Lee's  army  seemed  to  be  welded  together  by  Grant's 
hammering — by  the  blood  and  the  sweat  and  the  fury 
of  the  flames  that  swept  over  and  around  them.  In  the 
tangled  jungles  of  the  Wilderness ;  through  the  inces 
sant  uproar  by  day  and  night  at  Spottsylvania ;  on  the 
reddened  banks  of  the  North  Anna ;  amidst  the  sicken 
ing  slaughter  of  Cold  Harbor,— everywhere,  and  on  every 
field  where  the  American  armies  met  in  deadly  grapple, 
whether  behind  breastworks  or  in  the  open,  whether 
assaulting  or  repelling,  whether  broken  by  the  resistless 
impact  or  beating  back  with  clubbed  muskets  the  head 
long  charges  of  Grant,— these  worn  and  battered  soldiers 
of  Lee  seemed  determined  to  compensate  him  for  his 
paucity  of  numbers  by  a  self-immolation  and  a  steadfast 
valor  never  surpassed,  if  ever  equalled. 


294  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

This  estimate  of  the  marvellous  courage  displayed  by 
Lee's  men  will  not  be  regarded  as  too  partial  when  the 
salient  facts  of  this  campaign  are  recalled. 

I  might  safely  rest  the  overwhelming  vindication  of 
these  Southern  soldiers  against  the  statement  of  General 
Grant  that  they  were  "  shaky"  on  the  single  and  signal 
fact  that,  from  the  Wilderness  to  Cold  Harbor  inclusive, 
in  the  brief  space  of  twenty-eight  days,  they  had  placed 
hors  du  combat  about  as  many  men  as  Lee  com 
manded,  killing,  wounding,  or  capturing  one  of  Grant's 
men  for  every  Confederate  in  Lee's  army.  Or,  to  state 
the  fact  in  different  form,  had  General  Grant  inflicted 
equal  damage  upon  Lee's  troops,  the  last  Confederate  of 
that  army  would  have  been  killed,  wounded,  or  captured, 
still  leaving  General  Grant  with  an  army  very  much 
larger  than  any  force  that  had  been  under  Lee's  com 
mand  at  any  period  of  the  campaign. 

Of  course  this  wonderful  disparity  of  relative  losses  is 
due  in  a  measure  to  the  fact  that  the  Confederate 
army  acted  generally  upon  the  defensive,  on  shorter  lines, 
and  behind  intrenchments.  This,  however,  was  not 
always  true.  In  the  two  days  of  terrific  combat  in  the 
Wilderness,  neither  side  was  protected  by  breastworks, 
except  those  hastily  constructed  by  both  sides  as  the 
men  were  halted  in  line  of  battle.  Both  sides  were  en 
gaged  in  assaulting  and  repelling.  The  lines  of  both 
were  repeatedly  broken  by  furious  charges  and  counter 
charges.  But  Lee's  army  remained  upon  the  field  until 
its  great  antagonist  had  selected  another  field  of  conflict. 

At  Spottsylvania  also  the  armies  at  first  met  and 
wrestled  upon  exactly  equal  footing,  as  far  as  breast 
works  were  concerned;  and  when,  finally,  Lee's  rude 
intrenchments  were  hastily  thrown  up,  they  were  thrice 
carried  by  Grant's  determined  assault,  by  the  resistless 
momentum  of  his  concentrated  columns,  and  carried 
under  such  conditions  as  would  have  imperilled  the 


MOVEMENTS  AFTEE  SPOTTSYLVANIA    295 

safety,  if  not  the  very  existence,  of  an  ordinary  army- 
conditions  which  would  assuredly  have  filled  Lee's  sol 
diers  with  panic,  had  they  been  in  any  sense  "  shaky," 
as  General  Grant  supposed  them  to  be. 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  Union  commander  was 
penning  that  letter  to  General  Halleck,  there  must  have 
been  sounding  in  his  ears  the  ominous  notes  of  Hancock's 
preparations  for  the  momentous  movement  to  occur  the 
next  morning,  before  the  dawn  of  the  12th  of  May.  I 
repeat  that  had  General  Grant  waited  a  few  hours  he 
would  have  found  a  word  of  exactly  opposite  import  to 
convey  to  General  Halleck  his  impression  as  to  the  morale 
of  Lee's  army.  He  would  have  found  the  attenuated 
line  of  my  troops  thrown  quickly  and  defiantly  across 
Hancock's  formidable  front.  He  would  have  found  these 
Confederates  standing  calmly  in  the  open  field,  waiting 
the  command  to  rush  upon  Hancock's  advancing  legions, 
and  filled  with  more  anxiety  for  Lee's  safety  than  for 
their  own,  thus  exhibiting  that  true  intrepidity  which  is 
begotten  only  in  bravest  breasts  amid  greatest  perils. 
He  would  have  seen  these  Confederates  in  the  next  mo 
ment,  uplifted  and  inspired  by  Lee's  presence,  rushing 
upon  Hancock's  advancing  column,  and  hurling  it  back 
in  the  wildest  confusion.  General  Grant  was  too  thought 
ful,  too  great  a  soldier,  to  misinterpret  this  sudden  tran 
sition  of  his  army  from  exultant  victory  to  depressing 
defeat.  He  was  too  experienced  a  warrior  to  call  an 
army  "  shaky "  when  one  of  its  thin  lines  of  battle  with 
no  supports  could  hurl  itself  without  hesitation,  without 
a  tremor,  in  a  whirlwind  of  enthusiasm,  against  tenfold 
its  number.  Had  that  letter  to  General  Halleck  been 
delayed  until  he  decided  to  withdraw  from  Spottsylvania, 
from  the  Pamunkey,  from  the  North  Anna,  and  from 
Cold  Harbor,  where  many  thousands  of  his  brave  men 
lay  breathless  and  cold,  he  would  more  probably  have 
told  General  Halleck  that  he  would  not  "  fight  it  out  on 


296  REMINISCENCES  OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

this  line,"  because  the  enemy  seemed  to  gather  addi 
tional  hope  and  confidence  and  courage  on  every  field 
of  conflict. 

Bourrienne,  who  served  with  Napoleon  as  private 
secretary,  represents  the  Austrian  general,  who  had  been 
hammered  and  baffled  at  every  turn  by  the  great 
Frenchman,  as  supremely  disgusted  with  the  Napoleonic 
style  of  fighting.  He  regarded  the  little  Corsican  as  an 
untrained  boy,  a  mere  tyro  in  the  art  of  war,  violating 
all  its  recognized  rules,  turning  up  with  his  army  at  the 
oddest  places,  now  on  the  Austrian  flank,  now  in  the 
rear  and  then  in  front,  observing  none  of  the  established 
laws  of  tactics  or  strategy,  but  unceremoniously  knock 
ing  the  Austrian s  to  pieces  in  a  manner  that  was  truly 
shocking  to  all  scientific  ideas  of  campaigning. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  give  Bourrienne's  words,  but  the 
above  is  a  fair  though  somewhat  liberal  interpretation 
of  his  statement.  It  is  not  possible  to  rely  upon  any 
representations  made  by  Bourrienne,  for  his  character 
did  not  command  the  confidence  and  respect  of  honor 
able  men.  If  he  had  lived  in  the  Southern  States  of 
America  after  the  war  and  during  the  period  of  recon 
struction,  he  would  have  been  designated,  in  the  pictur 
esque  slang  of  the  period,  as  a  "  scalawag";  for  he  not 
only  deserted  Napoleon  in  his  final  defeat  and  deepest 
woe,  but  joined  his  enemies,  took  office  from  the  victors. 
perverted  his  public  trust  to  private  gain,  and  ended 
his  career  dishonored  in  the  estimation  of  all  true  men. 
But,  whatever  may  be  said  of  Bourrienne's  statement,  it 
is  certain  that  Napoleon's  methods  furnished  frequent 
surprises  to  the  commanders  of  opposing  armies.  And 
the  unbiassed  historian,  in  reviewing  and  analyzing  the 
moves  made  by  Grant  on  the  vast  chess-board  reaching 
from  the  Wilderness  to  Petersburg,  and  the  partial 
checkmates  made  by  Lee  in  every  game,  will  be  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  Lee's  ubiquity  must  have  been  as 


MOVEMENTS  AFTER  SPOTTSYLVANIA    297 

great  a  marvel  to  Grant  as  Napoleon's  was  to  the 
astounded  Austrian.  On  May  5th  Grant  hurried  his  mag 
nificent  army,  unmolested  by  even  a  picket  shot,  across 
the  Rapidan  to  turn  Lee's  right ;  but  the  great  leader  of 
the  Union  forces  found  his  wily  antagonist  not  only 
checking  him  in  the  Wilderness,  but  on  the  next  day 
(the  6th)  turning  the  Union  right  flank  and  sweeping 
with  the  destructive  energy  of  a  whirlwind  to  the  Union 
rear. 

Protected  from  observation  by  the  density  of  the  for 
est,  Grant  withdrew  his  bleeding  army,  and,  under  the 
cover  of  night,  pressed  with  all  possible  speed  to  Spott- 
sylvania;  but  there  again  he  found  Lee's  vanguard 
across  the  line  of  his  march,  disputing  his  further  ad 
vance.  Again,  after  more  than  ten  days  of  fighting  and 
manoeuvring,  of  alternate  successes  and  reverses,  of 
desperate  charges  and  deadly  repulses,  capturing  breast 
works  only  to  see  them  recaptured,  General  Grant  in 
augurated  the  third  and  fourth  and  subsequent  swiftly 
recurring  movements,  seeking  by  forced  marches  to 
plant  his  army  in  advantageous  fields  on  Lee's  right, 
only  to  find  the  Southern  leader  in  possession  of  the 
coveted  stronghold  and  successfully  resisting  all  efforts 
to  dislodge  him.  As  Lee  divined  Grant's  movement  to 
Spottsylvania  almost  at  the  very  instant  the  movement 
was  taking  shape  in  Grant's  brain,  so  on  each  succeeding 
field  he  read  the  mind  of  the  Union  commander,  and 
developed  his  own  plans  accordingly.  There  was  no 
mental  telepathy  in  all  this.  Lee's  native  and  tutored 
genius  enabled  him  to  place  himself  in  Grant's  position, 
to  reason  out  his  antagonist's  mental  processes,  to  trace 
with  accuracy  the  lines  of  his  marches,  and  to  mark  on 
the  map  the  points  of  future  conflict  which  were  to 
become  the  blood-lettered  mile-posts  marking  Grant's 
compulsory  halts  and  turnings  in  his  zigzag  route  to 
Richmond.  Finally,  at  Cold  Harbor,  where  a  supreme 


298   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

effort  was  made  to  rip  open  Lee's  lines  by  driving 
through  them  the  stiff  and  compact  Union  columns,  and 
where  the  slaughtered  Federals  presented  the  ghastliest 
scene  ever  witnessed  on  any  field  of  the  war,  General 
Grant  decided  promptly  and  wisely  to  abandon  further 
efforts  on  the  north  side  and  cross  to  the  south  side  of 
the  James  River. 

After  this  sanguinary  repulse  of  the  Union  forces  at 
Cold  Harbor,  a  report  gained  circulation,  and  was  gen 
erally  credited,  that  General  Grant's  troops  refused  to 
obey  the  orders  of  their  officers  to  advance  in  another 
assault.  This  statement,  which  it  was  difficult  for  me 
to  believe  at  the  time,  has  found  a  place  in  several  books, 
written  by  both  Northern  and  Southern  authors.  I  am 
glad  to  find  this  grave  injustice  to  the  brave  men  of  the 
Union  army  corrected  by  General  Porter  in  his  "  Cam 
paigning  with  Grant."  Shocking  as  had  been  the 
slaughter  of  Union  troops  in  their  last  charges,  costly 
and  hopeless  as  succeeding  assaults  must  have  appeared 
to  the  practised  eye  and  sharpened  comprehension  of 
Grant's  veterans,  they  still  seemed  ready  for  the  sacri 
fice  if  demanded  by  necessity  or  ordered  by  the  com 
manding  general.  As  a  Confederate  who  had  occasion 
to  observe  the  conduct  of  these  men  on  many  fields,  I 
am  glad  that  General  Porter  has  given  to  posterity  his 
own  witness  of  a  pathetic  scene  which  eloquently 
refutes  the  slander  of  these  brave  men  in  blue.  With 
the  "  appalling  revelry "  of  the  last  futile  onsets  still 
ringing  in  their  ears,  with  the  unburied  bodies  of  their 
dead  comrades  lying  in  full  view  on  the  blood-stained 
stretch  of  wooded  swamp  and  plain  at  Cold  Harbor, 
these  self-immolating  men  were  calmly  and  courage 
ously  preparing  for  the  next  charge  and  sacrifice.  Ac 
cording  to  General  Porter,  who  was  in  a  position  to 
know  whereof  he  affirms,  there  was  not  the  slightest 
indication  of  rebellion  or  defiance  of  orders,  not  a  trace 


MOVEMENTS  AFTER  SPOTTSYLVANIA    299 

of  stubbornness  or  sullenriess  in  the  bearing  of  these 
battered  Federals ;  but  they  were  quietly  sewing  to  their 
jackets  strips  of  cloth  marked  with  their  names,  in  order 
that  their  dead  bodies  might  be  identified  the  next  day 
amidst  the  prospective  debris  of  the  coming  storm.  It 
gives  me  genuine  pleasure  to  aid  as  far  as  I  can  in  cor 
recting  the  wrong  which  this  ill-founded  report  has 
done  to  these  high-spirited  Americans. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

HUNTER'S  KAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE 

The  movement  upon  Lynchburg— Hunter's  sudden  panic— Devastation 
in  the  Valley— Burning  of  private  homes— Lee's  orders  against 
destruction  of  private  property— Washington  threatened— The  battle 
of  Monocacy— A  brave  charge  — The  defeat  of  General  Lew  Wallace. 

AS  the  Union  army  prepared  to  cross  the  James,  with 
the  purpose  of  surprising  the  small  Confederate 
force  at  Petersburg  and  capturing  the  city,  my  command 
under  General  Early  began,  on  June  13,  1864,  the  move 
ment  to  check  Hunter's  raid  upon  Lynchburg^  By  rapid 
marching,  and  by  seizing  all  railroad  trains,  passenger 
and  freight,  and  loading  the  men  into  box  and  stock  cars, 
Early's  little  army  reached  Lynchburg  very  soon  after 
General  Hunter's  Union  forces  occupied  the  adjacent 
hills.  There  was  no  fighting  of  consequence  at  Lynch 
burg;  and  it  was  then  and  still  is  incomprehensible  to 
me  that  the  small  force  under  Early  seemed  to  have 
filled  Hunter  with  sudden  panic.  His  hurried  exit  from 
Lynchburg  was  in  marked  contrast  with  his  confident 
advance  upon  it,  and  suggests  an  improvement  in  the 
adage : 

He  who  fights  and  runs  away 
Will  live  to  fight  another  day  j 

for  he  ran  away  without  any  fight  at  all— at  least,  with 
out  any  demonstration  that  could  be  called  a  fight.     He 

300 


HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    301 

not  only  fled  without  a  test  of  relative  strength,  but  fled 
precipitately,  and  did  not  stop  until  he  had  found  a  safe 
retreat  beyond  the  mountains  toward  the  Ohio. 

If  I  were  asked  for  an  opinion  as  to  this  utterly  cause 
less  fright  and  flight,  I  should  be  tempted  to  say  that 
conscience,  the  inward  monitor  which  "makes  cowards 
of  us  all,"  was  harrowing  General  Hunter,  and  causing 
him  to  see  an  avenger  wrapped  in  every  gray  jacket  be 
fore  him.  He  was  not  a  Virginian;  but  his  Virginia 
kinsmen  almost  to  a  man  were  enlisted  in  the  struggle 
for  Southern  independence.  One  of  his  relatives,  Major 
Robert  W.  Hunter,  was  a  member  of  my  staff.  Another, 
the  Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  was  Confederate  Secretary  of 
State.  In  the  Valley  of  Virginia  dwelt  many  of  his 
kindred,  who  were  often  made  to  feel  the  sting  of  his 
military  power.  Had  he  been  a  Virginian,  however,  his 
support  of  the  Union  cause  would  have  engendered 
no  bitterness  toward  him  if  he  had  worn  his  uniform 
worthily,  remembering  that  he  was  an  American  soldier, 
bearing  a  high  commission  from  the  foremost  and 
freest  Republic  of  earth.  General  Lee's  own  sister  was 
a  Union  woman,  the  wife  of  a  Union  officer;  but  that 
fact  did  not  deprive  her  of  the  affectionate  interest  of 
her  family,  nor  of  the  chivalric  regard  of  Southern 
soldiers.  It  did  not  obliterate  or  apparently  lessen  in 
any  degree  her  devotion  to  her  brother,  Robert  E.  Lee, 
nor  her  appreciation  of  him  as  a  great  soldier.  In  ex 
pressing  her  loyalty  to  her  husband  and  the  Union  cause, 
and  her  hope  for  the  triumph  of  the  Federal  armies,  she 
would  usually  add  a  doubt  as  to  their  ability  to  "  whip 
Robert."  General  Thomas,  one  of  the  ablest  com 
manders  of  the  Union  forces,  was  a  Virginian,  but  he 
did  not  apply  the  torch  to  private  homes  or  order  the 
burning  of  his  kindred's  barns.  Hence  the  esteem  with 
which  he  will  always  be  regarded  by  the  Southern  people. 

General  Hunter  must  have  possessed  some  high  qual- 


302    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

ities,  or  he  would  not  have  been  intrusted  with  the  grave 
responsibilities  which  attach  to  the  commander  of  a 
department;  but  it  is  hard  to  trace  any  evidences  of 
knighthood  in  the  wreck  and  ravage  which  marked  the 
lines  of  his  marches.  He  ordered  the  destruction  of  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  one  of  the  most  important 
educational  institutions  in  the  State.  It  will  be  difficult 
to  find  any  rule  of  civilized  warfare  or  any  plea  of  neces 
sity  which  could  justify  G-eneral  Hunter  in  the  burning 
of  these  buildings.  He  could  scarcely  plead  as  an  ex 
cuse  the  fact  that  the  boys  of  this  school  had  marched 
down  the  Valley  in  a  body,  joined  General  Breckinridge, 
and  aided  materially  in  the  brilliant  victory  at  New 
Market  over  his  predecessor,  General  Sigel.  Upon  any 
such  ground  the  destruction  of  every  university,  college, 
and  common  school  in  the  South  could  have  been  jus 
tified  ;  for  all  of  them  were  converting  their  pupils  into 
soldiers.  My  youngest  brother  ran  away  from  school 
before  he  was  fifteen  years  old  as  captain  of  a  company 
of  schoolboys  of  his  own  age  and  younger,  who  reported 
in  a  body  to  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  at  Dalton  for 
service.  They  were  too  young  for  soldiers,  and  General 
Johnston  declined  to  accept  them  for  any  service  except 
that  of  guarding  a  bridge  across  the  Chattahoochee  River, 
which  they  defended  in  gallant  style.  The  Southern 
armies  contained  a  very  much  larger  proportion  of  boys 
under  proper  age  than  the  Union  armies,  but  there  were 
notable  instances  of  young  Northern  boys  who  demanded 
places  in  the  fighting-line.  General  Grant's  own  son, 
now  Brigadier-General  Frederick  D.  Grant  of  the  United 
States  army,  whose  courtesy  and  consideration  have  won 
for  him  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  the  Southern  people, 
wore  a  blue  uniform  and  was  under  fire  before  he  was 
fifteen. 

General   Hunter's   campaign  of  destruction  did  not 
end  with  the  burning  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute. 


HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    303 

The  homes  of  Governor  Letcher,  of  the  Hon.  Andrew 
Hunter,  of  Charles  James  Faulkner,  whose  wife  was 
Hunter's  relative;  of  Edmund  Lee  (a  first  cousin  of 
General  Lee),  and  of  Alexander  B.  Boteler,  were  burned, 
with  their  entire  contents;  and  only  time  enough  was 
given  the  women  and  children  to  escape  with  their  lives. 
Many  other  peaceful  homes  were  burned  under  orders. 
Had  General  Hunter  been  captured  at  this  time  it  would 
doubtless  have  been  difficult  to  save  him  from  the  ven 
geance  of  the  troops. 

General  Edward  Johnson,  who  was  captured  by  Han 
cock  in  his  brilliant  charge  at  Spottsylvania  (May  12th), 
and  who  knew  General  Hunter  well  in  other  days, 
described  him  as  a  noted  duelist  in  early  life,  who  had 
killed  two  of  his  brother  officers  in  such  combats.  It 
was  said  that  Jefferson  Davis,  who  was  at  West  Point 
with  Hunter,  consented  to  act  as  second  in  one  of  these 
duels.  When  the  war  was  over,  General  Hunter  made 
repeated  but  unavailing  advances  for  reconciliation  with 
his  Southern  relatives,  among  whom  were  some  of  the 
best  families  in  Virginia. 

There  was  so  much  that  was  commendable,  so  much 
that  was  truly  chivalrous,  in  both  Union  and  Confederate 
armies,  that  I  would  gladly  fill  this  book  only  with  in 
cidents  illustrative  of  that  phase  of  the  war.  It  is  im 
possible,  however,  to  write  truthfully  of  the  campaigns 
of  1864  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  without  some  allusion 
to  those  officers  who  left  behind  them  the  wide  stretch 
of  desolation  through  which  we  were  called  to  pass. 

The  official  announcement  of  General  Philip  Sheridan, 
who  was  regarded,  I  believe,  as  the  ablest  cavalry  leader 
of  the  Union  army,  that  he  had  "destroyed  over  two 
thousand  barns  filled  with  wheat  and  hay  and  farming 
implements;  over  seventy  mills  filled  with  flour  and 
wheat,"  etc.,  and  that  "  the  destruction  embraces  Luray 
valley,  Little  Fort  valley,  as  well  as  the  main  valley," 


304    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

will  give  some  conception  of  the  indescribable  suffering 
which  the  women  and  children  of  that  beautiful  region 
were  made  to  endure.  General  Sheridan,  as  far  as  could 
be  ascertained,  did  not  imitate  the  example  of  General 
Hunter  in  burning  private  homes ;  but  homes  without 
the  means  of  support  were  no  longer  homes.  With  barns 
and  mills  and  implements  for  tilling  the  soil  all  gone, 
with  cattle,  sheep,  and  every  animal  that  furnished  food 
to  the  helpless  inmates  carried  off,  they  were  dismal 
abodes  of  hunger,  of  hopelessness,  and  of  almost  meas 
ureless  woe. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  official  records  will  show  that 
this  mode  of  warfare  was  not  ordered  by  the  authorities 
at  Washington.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  it  could 
have  been  approved  by  President  Lincoln,  whose  entire 
life,  whose  every  characteristic,  was  a  protest  against 
needless  oppression  and  cruelty. 

If  General  Sheridan  was  acting  at  that  time  under  the 
orders  of  the  Union  commander-in-chief ,  I  am  constrained 
to  believe  that  he  interpreted  his  instructions  with  great 
laxity.  I  recall  no  act  of  General  Grant  in  the  imme 
diate  conduct  of  his  campaigns  that  would  indicate  his 
disposition  to  bring  upon  any  people  such  sweeping 
desolation.  Nor  can  I  recall  any  speech  of  his  that  can 
fairly  be  interpreted  as  expressing  sympathy  with  Gen 
eral  Sherman  in  his  declaration,  "  War  is  hell,"  or  with 
Sherman's  purpose  to  make  it  hell.  General  Grant's 
fame  as  a  commander  of  armies  in  an  enemy's  country 
will,  in  the  sober  estimation  of  posterity,  be  the  more  last 
ing  because  of  the  fact  that  his  blows  fell  upon  armed 
soldiery,  and  not  upon  defenceless  private  citizens.  Un 
less  his  instructions  to  Sheridan  were  specific,  he  can 
not  be  held  responsible  for  the  torch  that  was  applied  to 
almost  every  kind  of  private  property  in  the  Virginia 
valleys.  It  would  be  almost  as  just  to  charge  General  Lee 
with  responsibility  for  the  burning  of  Chambersburg  in 


HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    305 

the  Cumberland  Valley  of  Pennsylvania.  This  act  of 
his  subordinate  was  a  great  shock  to  General  Lee's 
sensibilities.  Although  the  destruction  of  Chambers- 
burg  was  wholly  in  the  nature  of  reprisal  for  the  whole 
sale  destruction  of  the  Virginia  valleys  and  the  burning 
of  Southern  cities,  yet  it  was  so  directly  in  contravention 
of  General  Lee's  orders,  and  so  abhorrent  to  the  ideas 
and  maxims  with  which  he  imbued  his  army,  that  a  high- 
spirited  Virginia  soldier  flatly  refused  to  obey  the  order 
when  directed  by  his  superior  officer  to  apply  the  torch 
to  the  city.  That  soldier,  whose  disobedience  was 
prompted  by  the  highest  dictates  of  humanity,  deserves 
a  place  of  honor  in  history.  He  was  not  only  a  man  of 
iron  resolution  and  imperturbable  courage,  who  fought 
from  April,  1861,  to  April,  1865,  and  was  repeatedly 
wounded  in  battle,  but  he  was  a  fit  representative  of  that 
noblest  type  of  soldier  who  will  inflict  every  legitimate 
damage  on  the  enemy  in  arms  against  his  people,  but  who 
scorns,  even  as  a  retaliatory  measure,  to  wage  war  upon 
defenceless  citizens  and  upon  women  and  children.  This 
knightly  Southern  soldier  was  Colonel  William  E.  Peters 
of  the  Twenty-first  Virginia  Cavalry,  who  has  for  forty- 
six  years  been  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Virginia 
and  at  Emory  and  Henry  College.  He  obeyed  the  order 
to  move  into  Chambersburg  with  his  troops  and  occupy 
the  town,  as  he  was  not  apprised  of  the  purpose  of  its 
occupancy ;  but  when  the  next  order  reached  him  to  move 
his  men  to  the  court-house,  arm  them  with  torches,  and 
fire  the  town,  his  spirit  rose  in  righteous  revolt.  He 
calmly  but  resolutely  refused  obedience,  preferring  to 
risk  any  consequences  that  disobedience  might  involve, 
rather  than  be  instrumental  in  devoting  defenceless  in 
habitants  to  so  dire  a  fate.  If  all  the  officers  who  com 
manded  troops  in  that  war,  in  which  Americans  fought 
one  another  so  fiercely  and  yet  so  grandly,  had  possessed 
the  chivalry  of  Colonel  Peters,  the  history  of  the  conflict 


306    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

would  not  have  been  blurred  and  blackened  by  such  ugly 
records  of  widespread  and  pitiless  desolation.  Colonel 
Peters  was  promptly  placed  under  arrest  for  disobedience 
to  orders;  but,  prudently  and  wisely,  he  was  never 
brought  to  trial. 

A  number  of  Federal  generals  led  armies  through 
different  portions  of  the  South  without  leaving  behind 
them  any  lasting  marks  of  reckless  waste.  In  all  of 
General  Grant's  triumphant  marches  I  do  not  believe  he 
ever  directly  ordered  or  willingly  permitted  the  burning 
of  a  single  home.  And  of  his  illustrious  opponent, 
General  Robert  E.  Lee,  I  am  impelled  to  say  in  this 
connection  that  of  the  world's  great  chieftains  who  have 
led  armies  into  an  enemy's  territory,  not  one  has  left  a 
nobler  example  to  posterity  in  his  dealings  with  non- 
combatants  and  in  the  protection  which  he  afforded  to 
private  property.  When  the  Confederates  crossed  the 
Potomac  into  Maryland  in  1862,  he  issued  the  most 
stringent  orders  against  all  plundering  and  all  straggling 
through  the  country.  On  one  of  his  rides  in  rear  of  his 
lines  he  chanced  to  find  one  of  Jackson's  men  with  a 
stolen  pig.  This  evidence  of  disregard  of  the  explicit 
orders  against  pilfering  so  enraged  General  Lee  that  he 
ordered  the  soldier  to  be  delivered  to  General  Jackson 
and  executed;  but  as  Jackson  was  at  the  moment 
advancing  in  an  attack,  he  directed  that  the  soldier  be 
placed  in  the  front  rank  of  his  column,  in  order  that  he 
might  be  despatched  by  a  Union  rather  than  a  Confed 
erate  bullet.  The  culprit  went  through  the  fire,  how 
ever,  unscathed,  and  purchased  redemption  from  the 
death  penalty  by  his  conspicuous  courage.  The  repre 
sentatives  of  foreign  governments  who  visited  General 
Lee  and  accompanied  him  for  a  time  on  his  campaigns 
were  impressed  by  the  manifestations  of  his  solicitude 
for  the  protection  of  private  citizens  and  private  prop 
erty  in  the  enemy's  territory;  and  Colonel  Freeniantle 


HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    307 

of  the  English  army,  who  accompanied  General  Lee  in 
his  invasion  of  Pennsylvania,  has  given  to  the  world 
his  testimony  to  the  effect  that  there  was  no  straggling 
into  private  homes,  "  nor  were  the  inhabitants  disturbed 
or  annoyed  by  the  soldiers."  He  adds  that,  in  view  of 
the  ravages  which  he  saw  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  "  this 
forbearance  was  most  commendable  and  surprising." 

"  This  forbearance,"  which  I  think  posterity  will  unite 
in  pronouncing  "  most  commendable,"  was  also  a 
worthy  response  by  the  Confederate  army  to  the  wishes 
and  explicit  orders  of  its  idolized  commander.  No 
comment  that  can  be  made,  no  eulogy  that  can  ever  be 
pronounced  upon  General  Lee,  can  equal  the  force  and 
earnestness  of  his  own  words  embodied  in  his  general 
order,  issued  at  Chambersburg  as  his  hitherto  victorious 
army  was  just  beginning  its  invasion  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  order  is  here  given  in  full.  It  was  a  source  of 
special  and  poignant  pain  to  General  Lee  that  the  very 
town  in  which  this  order  was  penned  and  issued  should 
become,  at  a  later  period,  the  scene  of  retaliatory 
action.  In  the  interest  of  civilized  and  Christian  war 
fare,  and  as  an  inspiration  to  American  soldiers  in  all 
the  future,  these  words  of  Lee  ought  to  be  printed  and 
preserved  in  letters  of  gold : 

HEADQUARTERS  ARMY  OF  NORTHERN  VIRGINIA. 

CHAMBERSBURG,  PA.,  June  27,  1863. 
General  Order  No.  73. 

The  commanding  general  has  observed  with  marked  satisfaction 
the  conduct  of  the  troops  on  the  march,  and  confidently  antici 
pates  results  commensurate  with  the  high  spirit  they  have  mani 
fested.  No  troops  could  have  displayed  greater  fortitude  or 
better  performed  the  arduous  marches  of  the  past  ten  days. 
Their  conduct  in  other  respects  has,  with  few  exceptions,  been 
in  keeping  with  their  character  as  soldiers  and  entitles  them  to 
approbation  and  praise. 

There  have,  however,  been  instances  of  forgetfulness  on  the 


308  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

part  of  some  that  they  have  in  keeping  the  yet  unsullied  repu 
tation  of  the  army,  and  that  the  duties  exacted  of  us  by  civili 
zation  and  Christianity  are  not  less  obligatory  in  the  country 
of  the  enemy  than  ,in  our  own.  The  commanding  general 
considers  that  no  greater  disgrace  could  befall  the  army,  and 
through  it  our  whole  people,  than  the  perpetration  of  the  bar 
barous  outrages  upon  the  innocent  and  defenseless  and  the 
wanton  destruction  of  private  property  that  have  marked  the 
course  of  the  enemy  in  our  own  country.  Such  proceedings  not 
only  disgrace  the  perpetrators  and  all  connected  with  them,  but 
are  subversive  of  the  discipline  and  efficiency  of  the  army  and 
destructive  of  the  ends  of  our  present  movements.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  we  make  war  only  on  armed  men,  and  that  we 
cannot  take  vengeance  for  the  wrongs  our  people  have  suffered 
without  lowering  ourselves  in  the  eyes  of  all  whose  abhorrence 
has  been  excited  by  the  atrocities  of  our  enemy,  and  offending 
against  Him  to  whom  vengeance  belongeth,  without  whose 
favor  and  support  our  efforts  must  all  prove  in  vain. 

The  commanding  general,  therefore,  earnestly  exhorts  the 
troops  to  abstain  with  most  scrupulous  care  from  unnecessary 
or  wanton  injury  to  private  property,  and  he  enjoins  upon  all 
officers  to  arrest  and  bring  to  summary  punishment  all  who 
shall  in  any  way  offend  against  the  orders  on  this  subject. 

R.  E.  LEE,  General. 

Among  the  great  warriors  who  gave  special  lustre  to 
Roman  arms,  no  one  of  them  left  a  reputation  more  to 
be  coveted  by  the  true  soldier  than  Scipio  Africanus. 
In  native  gifts  and  brilliancy  of  achievements,  he  was 
perhaps  the  equal  of  Julius  Caesar ;  while  in  the  nobler 
attributes  of  manly  courtesy  to  womanhood,  of  magna 
nimity  to  the  defenceless  who  became  subjects  of  his 
military  power,  in  self-abnegation  and  faithful  adherence 
to  constitution  and  laws,  he  surpasses,  I  think,  any 
warrior  of  his  time. 

Lee  exhibited  everywhere  all  those  lofty  character 
istics  which  have  made  the  name  of  Scipio  immortal. 
He  not  only  possessed  true  genius,— the  "gift  that 


HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    309 

Heaven  gives  and  which  buys  a  place  next  to  a  king,"  — 
but  he  had  what  was  better  than  genius  —  a  heart  whose 
every  throb  was  in  harmony  with  the  teachings  of  the 
Great  Captain  whom  he  served.  He  had  a  spirit  nat 
urally  robust  and  aggressive,  but  he  made  it  loyally 
obedient  to  the  precepts  of  the  Divine  Master.  In  the 
combination  of  great  qualities,  he  will  be  adjudged  in 
history  as  measuring  up  as  few  commanders  have  ever 
done  to  Scipio's  lofty  conception  of  the  noblest  soldier : 
the  commander  who  could  win  victories,  but  who  found 
more  pleasure  in  the  protection  afforded  defenceless  citi 
zens  than  in  the  disasters  inflicted  upon  armed  enemies. 

As  the  last  of  Hunter's  men,  who  were  worthy  of  a 
nobler  leader,  filed  through  the  mountain  passes  in  their 
westward  flight,  and  the  Southern  troops  in  tattered 
gray  were  seen  coming  down  the  valley  pikes,  the  relief 
felt  by  that  suffering  people  was  apparent  on  every 
hand.  From  every  home  on  the  pike  along  which 
Hunter  had  marched  came  a  fervid  welcome. 

With  the  hope  of  creating  some  apprehension  for  the 
safety  of  the  national  capital  and  thus  inducing  General 
Grant  to  slacken  his  hold  on  the  Confederacy's  throat,  it 
was  decided  that  we  should  again  cross  the  Potomac 
and  threaten  Washington.  The  Federal  authorities  sent 
the  dashing  soldier,  General  Lew  Wallace,— who  after 
ward  became  famous  as  the  author  of  "  Ben  Hur,"  - 
to  meet  us  with  his  army  at  Monocacy  River,  near 
Frederick  City,  Maryland.  His  business  was  to  check  the 
rash  Southern  invaders,  and,  if  possible,  to  drive  them 
back  across  the  Potomac. 

The  battle  of  Monocacy  which  ensued  was  short, 
decisive,  and  bloody.  While  the  two  armies,  under  the 
command  respectively  of  Lew  Wallace  and  Jubal  Early, 
were  contemplating  each  other  from  the  opposite  banks, 
my  division  was  selected,  not  to  prevent  Wallace  from 


310  REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

driving  us  out  of  Maryland,  but  to  drive  him  from  our 
front  and  thus  reopen  the  highway  for  our  march  upon 
the  capital.  My  movement  was  down  the  right  bank  of 
the  Monocacy  to  a  fording-place  below,  the  object  being 
to  cross  the  river  and  then  turn  upon  the  Federal 
stronghold.  My  hope  and  effort  were  to  conceal  the 
movement  from  Wallace's  watchful  eye  until  my  troops 
were  over,  and  then  apprise  him  of  my  presence  on  his 
side  of  the  river  by  a  sudden  rush  upon  his  left  flank ; 
but  General  McCausland's  brigade  of  Confederate  cavalry 
had  already  gallantly  attacked  a  portion  of  his  troops, 
and  he  discovered  the  manoeuvre  of  my  division  before 
it  could  drag  itself  through  the  water  and  up  the 
Monocacy's  muddy  and  slippery  banks.  He  at  once 
changed  front  and  drew  up  his  lines  in  strong  position 
to  meet  the  assault. 

This  movement  presented  new  difficulties.  Instead  of 
realizing  my  hope  of  finding  the  Union  forces  still  facing 
Early's  other  divisions  beyond  the  river,  giving  my 
isolated  command  the  immense  advantage  of  the  pro 
posed  flank  attack,  I  found  myself  separated  from  all 
other  Confederate  infantry,  with  the  bristling  front  of 
Wallace's  army  before  me.  In  addition  to  this  trouble, 
I  found  difficulties  before  unknown  which  strongly  mili 
tated  against  the  probable  success  of  my  movement. 
Across  the  intervening  fields  through  which  we  were  to 
advance  there  were  strong  farm  fences,  which  my 
men  must  climb  while  under  fire.  Worse  still,  those 
fields  were  thickly  studded  with  huge  grain-stacks 
which  the  harvesters  had  recently  piled.  They  were  so 
broad  and  high  and  close  together  that  no  line  of  battle 
could  possibly  be  maintained  while  advancing  through 
them.  Every  intelligent  private  in  my  command,  as  he 
looked  over  the  field,  must  have  known  before  we  started 
that  my  battle-line  would  become  tangled  and  confused 
in  the  attempt  to  charge  through  these  obstructions, 


HUNTER'S  EAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    311 

With  an  able  commander  in  my  front,  and  his  compact 
ranks  so  placed  as  to  rake  every  foot  of  the  field  with 
their  fire,  with  the  certainty  of  having  my  lines  broken 
and  tangled  by  fences  and  grain-stacks  at  every  rod  of 
advance,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  responsi 
bility  of  hazarding  battle  without  supporting  Confed 
erate  infantry  in  reach.  The  nerve  of  the  best-trained 
and  bravest  troops  is  sorely  taxed,  even  under  most 
favorable  conditions,  when  assaulting  an  enemy  well 
posted,  and  pouring  an  incessant  well-directed  fire  into 
their  advancing  ranks.  To  how  much  severer  test  of 
nerve  were  my  troops  to  be  subjected  in  this  attempt  to 
charge  where  the  conditions  forced  them  while  under 
fire  to  break  into  column,  halt  and  reform,  and  make 
another  start,  only  to  be  broken  again  by  the  immovable 
stacks  all  over  the  field  !  I  knew,  however,  that  if  any 
troops  in  the  world  could  win  victory  against  such  ad 
verse  conditions,  those  high-mettled  Southern  boys  would 
achieve  it  there. 

En  echelon  by  brigades  from  the  right  the  movement 
began.  As  we  reached  the  first  line  of  strong  and  high 
fencing,  and  my  men  began  to  climb  over  it,  they  were 
met  by  a  tempest  of  bullets,  and  many  of  the  brave  fel 
lows  fell  at  the  first  volley.  But  over  they  climbed  or 
tumbled,  and  rushed  forward,  some  of  them  halting  to 
break  down  gaps  in  the  fence,  so  that  the  mounted  offi 
cers  might  ride  through.  Then  came  the  grain-stacks. 
Around  them  and  between  them  they  pressed  on,  with  no 
possibility  of  maintaining  orderly  alignment  or  of  re 
turning  any  effective  fire.  Deadly  missiles  from  Wal 
lace's  ranks  were  cutting  down  the  line  and  company 
officers  with  their  words  of  cheer  to  the  men  but  half 
spoken.  It  was  one  of  those  fights  where  success  de 
pends  largely  upon  the  prowess  of  the  individual  soldier. 
The  men  were  deprived  of  that  support  and  strength 
imparted  by  a  compact  line,  where  the  elbow  touch  of 


312    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAK 

comrade  with  comrade  gives  confidence  to  each  and  sends 
the  electric  thrill  of  enthusiasm  through  all.  But  noth 
ing  could  deter  them.  Neither  the  obstructions  nor  the 
leaden  blast  in  their  front  could  check  them.  The 
supreme  test  of  their  marvellous  nerve  and  self-control 
now  came.  They  had  passed  the  forest  of  malign  wheat- 
stacks;  they  had  climbed  the  second  fence  and  were  in 
close  proximity  to  Wallace's  first  line  of  battle,  which 
stood  firmly  and  was  little  hurt.  The  remaining  officers, 
on  horseback  and  on  foot,  rapidly  adjusted  their  com 
mands,  and  I  ordered  "  Forward !  "  and  forward  they 
went.  I  recall  no  charge  of  the  war,  except  that  of  the 
12th  of  May  against  Hancock,  in  which  my  brave  fellows 
seemed  so  swayed  by  an  enthusiasm  which  amounted 
almost  to  a  martial  delirium ;  and  the  swell  of  the 
Southern  yell  rose  high  above  the  din  of  battle  as  they 
rushed  upon  the  resolute  Federals  and  hurled  them  back 
upon  the  second  line. 

The  Union  lines  stood  firmly  in  this  second  position, 
bravely  defending  the  railroad  and  the  highway  to 
Washington.  Between  the  two  hostile  lines  there  was  a 
narrow  ravine  down  which  ran  a  small  stream  of  limpid 
water.  In  this  ravine  the  fighting  was  desperate  and  at 
close  quarters.  To  and  fro  the  battle  swayed  across  the 
little  stream,  the  dead  and  wounded  of  both  sides  min 
gling  their  blood  in  its  waters ;  and  when  the  struggle 
was  ended  a  crimsoned  current  ran  toward  the  river. 
Nearly  one  half  of  my  men  and  large  numbers  of  the 
Federals  fell  there.  Many  of  my  officers  went  down, 
and  General  Clement  A.  Evans,  the  trusted  leader  of 
my  largest  brigade,  was  severely  wounded.  A  Minie 
ball  struck  him  in  his  left  side,  passing  through  a 
pocket  of  his  coat,  and  carrying  with  it  a  number  of 
pins,  which  were  so  deeply  embedded  that  they  were  not 
all  extracted  for  a  number  of  years.  But  the  execution 
of  his  orders  was  superintended  by  his  staff  officer, 


HUNTER'S  RAID  AND  EARLY'S  CHASE    313 

Major  Eugene  C.  Gordon,  who  was  himself  severely 
wounded. 

In  that  vortex  of  fire  my  favorite  battle-horse,  pre 
sented  to  me  by  my  generous  comrades,  which  had  never 
hitherto  been  wounded,  was  struck  by  a  Minie  ball,  and 
plunged  and  fell  in  the  midst  of  my  men,  carrying  me 
down  with  him.  Ordinarily  the  killing  of  a  horse  in 
battle,  though  ridden  by  the  commander,  would  scarcely 
be  worth  noting;  but  in  this  case  it  was  serious.  By 
his  death  I  had  been  unhorsed  in  the  very  crisis  of 
the  battle.  Many  of  my  leading  officers  were  killed 
or  disabled.  The  chances  for  victory  or  defeat  were 
at  the  moment  so  evenly  balanced  that  a  temporary 
halt  or  slight  blunder  might  turn  the  scales.  My  staff 
were  bearing  orders  to  different  portions  of  the  field.  But 
some  thoughtful  officer  sent  me  a  horse  and  I  was  again 
mounted. 

Wallace's  army,  after  the  most  stubborn  resistance 
and  heavy  loss,  was  driven  from  railroad  and  pike  in 
the  direction  of  Baltimore.  The  Confederate  victory 
was  won  at  fearful  cost  and  by  practically  a  single 
division,  but  it  was  complete,  and  the  way  to  Washing 
ton  was  opened  for  General  Early's  march. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

WINCHESTER  AND  PRECEDING  EVENTS 

The  Confederate  army  within  sight  of  Washington— The  city  could 
have  been  taken — Reasons  for  the  retreat — Abandonment  of  plan 
to  release  Confederate  prisoners— The  Winchester  campaign— Assault 
on  Sheridan's  front— Sudden  rally— Retreat  of  Early's  army— The 
battle  of  Fisher's  Hill. 

ON  July  11,  1864,  the  second  day  after  the  battle  of 
Monocacy,  we  were  at  the  defences  of  Washington. 
We  were  nearer  to  the  national  capital  than  any  armed 
Confederates  had  ever  been,  and  nearer  to  it  than  any 
Federal  army  had  ever  approached  to  Richmond.  It  has 
been  claimed  that  at  the  time  we  reached  these  outer 
works  they  were  fully  manned  by  troops.  This  is  a  mis 
take.  I  myself  rode  to  a  point  on  those  breastworks  at 
which  there  was  no  force  whatever.  The  unprotected 
space  was  broad  enough  for  the  easy  passage  of  Early's 
army  without  resistance.  It  is  true  that,  as  we  ap 
proached,  Rodes's  division  had  driven  in  some  skir 
mishers,  and  during  the  day  (July  llth)  another  small 
affair  had  occurred  on  the  Seventh  Street  road ;  but  all 
the  Federals  encountered  on  this  approach  could  not  have 
manned  any  considerable  portion  of  the  defences.  Un 
doubtedly  we  could  have  marched  into  Washington ;  but 
in  the  council  of  war  called  by  General  Early  there  was 
not  a  dissenting  opinion  as  to  the  impolicy  of  entering 
the  city.  While  General  Early  and  his  division  com 
manders  were  considering  in  jocular  vein  the  propriety 

314 


WINCHESTER  315 

of  putting  General  John  C.  Breckinridge  at  the  head  of 
the  column  and  of  escorting  him  to  the  Senate  chamber 
and  seating  him  again  in  the  Vice-President's  chair,  the 
sore-footed  men  in  gray  were  lazily  lounging  about  the 
cool  waters  of  Silver  Spring,  picking  blackberries  in 
the  orchards  of  Postmaster-General  Blair,  and  merrily 
estimating  the  amount  of  gold  and  greenbacks  that 
would  come  into  our  possession  when  we  should  seize 
the  vaults  of  the  United  States  Treasury.  The  privates 
also  had  opinions  about  the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of 
going  into  the  city.  One  of  them  who  supposed  we 
were  going  in  asked  another : 

"  I  say,  Mac,  what  do  you  suppose  we  are  going  to  do 
with  the  city  of  Washington  when  we  take  it  ? " 

"  That  question  reminds  me,"  replied  Mac,  "  of  old 
Simon's  answer  to  Tony  Towns  when  he  asked  Simon  if 
he  were  not  afraid  he  would  lose  his  dog  that  was  run 
ning  after  every  train  that  came  by.  The  old  darky 
replied  that  he  was  not  thinking  about  losing  his  dog, 
but  was  just  'wonderin'  what  dat  dorg  was  gwine  do 
wid  dem  kyars  when  he  kotched  'em.' "  It  is  evident 
that  neither  of  these  soldiers  believed  in  the  wisdom  of 
any  serious  effort  to  capture  Washington  at  that  time. 

While  we  debated,  the  Federal  troops  were  arriving 
from  Grant's  army  and  entering  the  city  on  the  oppo 
site  side. 

The  two  objects  of  our  approach  to  the  national 
capital  were,  first  and  mainly,  to  compel  General  Grant 
to  detach  a  portion  of  his  army  from  Lee's  front  at 
Petersburg;  and,  second  and  incidentally,  to  release,  if 
possible,  the  Confederates  held  as  prisoners  of  war  at 
Point  Lookout.  We  had  succeeded  in  accomplishing 
only  the  first  of  these.  We  had,  by  the  signal  victory 
over  Lew  Wallace's  protecting  army  at  Monocacy  and 
by  the  ring  of  our  rifles  in  ear-shot  of  President  Lin 
coln's  cabinet,  created  enough  consternation  to  induce 


316    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

the  Federal  authorities  to  debate  the  contingencies  of 
our  entrance  and  to  hurry  Grant's  troops  across  the 
Potomac. 

The  second  object  (the  release  of  our  prisoners  con 
fined  at  Point  Lookout)  had  to  be  abandoned  at  a  some 
what  earlier  date  because  of  the  inability  to  perfect 
needful  antecedent  arrangements.  Some  days  prior  to 
our  crossing  the  Potomac  into  Maryland,  General  Lee 
wrote  twice  to  President  Davis  (June  26th  and  29th) 
touching  the  possibility  of  effecting  this  release.  It  was 
General  Lee's  opinion  that  it  would  not  require  a  large 
force  to  accomplish  this  object.  He  said  to  the  Presi 
dent  :  "  I  have  understood  that  most  of  the  garrison  at 
Point  Lookout  is  composed  of  negroes.  ...  A  stub 
born  resistance,  therefore,  may  not  reasonably  be  ex 
pected."  He  was  ready  to  devote  to  the  enterprise  the 
courage  and  dash  of  all  Mary  landers  in  his  army.  The 
greatest  difficulty,  he  thought,  was  to  find  a  suitable 
leader,  as  success  in  such  a  venture  depended  largely  on 
the  brains  and  pluck  of  the  man  who  guided  it.  He 
asked  the  President  if  such  a  leader  could  be  found ;  his 
own  opinion  was  that  General  Bradley  T.  Johnson  of 
Maryland  was  the  best  man  in  his  acquaintance  for  this 
special  work.  Our  march,  however,  toward  Washington 
was  so  rapid,  and  our  retreat  from  it  so  necessary  to 
avoid  being  captured  ourselves  by  the  heavy  forces  just 
arriving  from  Grant's  army,  cooperating  with  those 
forming  in  our  rear,  that  the  recruiting  of  our  ranks 
by  releasing  our  expectant  boys  at  Point  Lookout 
had  to  be  abandoned.  There  was  not  time  enough  for 
the  delicate  and  difficult  task  of  communicating  secretly 
with  our  prisoners  so  as  to  have  them  ready  for  prompt 
cooperation  in  overpowering  the  negro  guards,  nor  time 
for  procuring  the  flotillas  necessary  silently  to  transport 
across  the  Potomac  the  forces  who  were  to  assault  the 
fortress. 


WINCHESTER  317 

General  Bradley  Johnson  captured  at  this  time  Major 
General  Franklin  of  the  Union  army,  and  the  railroad 
train  between  Washington  and  Philadelphia  on  which 
this  distinguished  passenger  was  travelling.  However, 
in  the  hurry  of  the  Confederates  to  get  away  from  that 
point,  General  Franklin  made  his  escape. 

Thenceforward  to  the  end  of  July,  through  the  entire 
month  of  August,  and  during  more  than  half  of  Sep 
tember,  1864,  Early's  little  army  was  marching  and 
countermarching  toward  every  point  of  the  compass  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley,  with  scarcely  a  day  of  rest, 
skirmishing,  fighting,  rushing  hither  and  thither  to  meet 
and  drive  back  cavalry  raids,  while  General  Sheridan 
gathered  his  army  of  more  than  double  our  numbers  for 
his  general  advance  up  the  valley. 

General  Jubal  A.  Early,  who  commanded  the  Confed 
erate  forces  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  in  the  autumn  of 
1864,  was  an  able  strategist  and  one  of  the  coolest  and 
most  imperturbable  of  men  under  fire  and  in  extremity. 
He  had,  however,  certain  characteristics  which  militated 
against  his  achieving  the  greatest  successes.  Like  the 
brilliant  George  B.  McClellan  (whom  I  knew  personally 
and  greatly  admired),  and  like  many  other  noted  sol 
diers  who  might  be  named  in  all  armies,  he  lacked  what 
I  shall  term  official  courage,  or  what  is  known  as  the 
courage  of  one's  convictions  —  that  courage  which  I 
think  both  Lee  and  Grant  possessed  in  an  eminent 
degree,  and  which  in  Stonewall  Jackson  was  one  of  the 
prime  sources  of  his  marvellous  achievements.  This 
peculiar  courage  must  not  be  confounded  with  rashness, 
although  there  is  a  certain  similarity  between  them. 
They  both  strike  boldly,  fiercely,  and  with  all  possible 
energy.  They  are,  however,  as  widely  separated  as  the 
poles  in  other  and  essential  qualities.  The  rash  officer's 
boldness  is  blind.  He  strikes  in  the  dark,  madly, 
wildly,  and  often  impotently.  The  possessor  of  the 


318    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

courage  which  I  am  trying  to  describe  is  equally  bold, 
but  sees  with  quick,  clear,  keen  vision  the  weak  and 
strong  points  in  the  adversary,  measures  with  unerring 
judgment  his  own  strength  and  resources,  and  then, 
with  utmost  faith  in  the  result,  devotes  his  all  to  its 
attainment  —  and  wins.  Thus  thought  and  thus  fought 
Jackson  and  many  of  the  world's  greatest  leaders. 
Thus  Lee's  faultless  eye  saw  at  Gettysburg,  and  thus  he 
intended  to  strike  the  last  decisive  blow  on  the  morning 
of  the  third  day ;  and  if  his  orders  had  been  obeyed— if, 
as  he  directed,  every  unemployed  soldier  of  his  army 
had  been  hurled  at  dawn  against  Meade's  centre,  and 
with  the  impetuosity  which  his  assurance  of  victory 
should  have  imparted  to  General  Longstreet — there  is 
not  a  reasonable  doubt  that  the  whole  Union  centre 
would  have  been  shattered,  the  two  wings  hopelessly 
separated,  and  the  great  army  in  blue,  like  a  mill-dam 
broken  by  the  rushing  current,  would  have  been  swept 
away. 

General  Early  possessed  other  characteristics  peculiarly 
his  own,  which  were  the  parents  of  more  or  less  trouble 
to  him  and  to  those  under  him:  namely,  his  indisposi 
tion  to  act  upon  suggestions  submitted  by  subordinates 
and  his  distrust  of  the  accuracy  of  reports  by  scouts, 
than  whom  there  were  no  more  intelligent,  reliable,  and 
trustworthy  men  in  the  army.  Incidentally  I  alluded 
to  this  marked  characteristic  of  General  Early's  mind  in 
speaking  of  his  refusal  to  permit  me  to  assail  General 
Grant's  right  flank  on  the  6th  of  May  in  the  Wilderness 
until  the  day  was  nearly  gone  and  until  General  Lee 
himself  ordered  the  attack. 

General  Early  was  a  bachelor,  with  a  pungent  style  of 
commenting  on  things  he  did  not  like ;  but  he  had  a 
kind  heart  and  was  always  courteous  to  women.  As 
might  be  expected,  however,  of  a  man  who  had  passed 
the  meridian  of  life  without  marrying,  he  had  little  or  no 


WINCHESTER  319 

patience  with  wives  who  insisted  on  following  the  army 
in  order  to  be  near  their  husbands.  There  were  numbers 
of  women  —  wives  and  mothers  —  who  would  gladly 
have  accompanied  their  husbands  and  sons  had  it  been 
possible  for  them  to  do  so.  Mrs.  Gordon  was  one  of  the 
few  who  were  able  to  consult  their  wishes  in  this  regard. 
General  Early,  hearing  of  her  constant  presence,  is  said 
to  have  exclaimed,  "  I  wish  the  Yankees  would  capture 
Mrs.  Gordon  and  hold  her  till  the  war  is  over !  "  Near 
Winchester,  as  the  wagon-trains  were  being  parked  at 
night,  he  discovered  a  conveyance  unlike  any  of  the 
others  that  were  going  into  camp.  He  immediately 
called  out  to  his  quartermaster  in  excited  tones: 
"  What  >s  that  I "  "  That  is  Mrs.  Gordon's  carriage,  sir," 
replied  the  officer.  "  Well,  I  '11  be  -  - !  If  my  men 
would  keep  up  as  she  does,  I  'd  never  issue  another  order 
against  straggling." 

Mrs.  Gordon  was  fully  aware  of  the  general's  senti 
ments,  and  had  heard  of  his  wishing  for  her  capture ;  and 
during  a  camp  dinner  given  in  honor  of  General  Ewell, 
she  sat  near  General  Early  and  good-naturedly  rallied 
him  about  it.  He  was  momentarily  embarrassed,  but 
rose  to  the  occasion  and  replied :  "  Mrs.  Gordon,  General 
Gordon  is  a  better  soldier  when  you  are  close  by  him 
than  when  you  are  away,  and  so  hereafter,  when  I  issue 
orders  that  officers'  wives  must  go  to  the  rear,  you  may 
know  that  you  are  excepted."  This  gallant  reply  called 
forth  a  round  of  applause  from  the  officers  at  table. 

Faithful  and  enterprising  scouts,  those  keen-eyed, 
acute-eared,  and  nimble-footed  heralds  of  an  army  who, 
"light-armed,  scour  each  quarter  to  descry  the  distant 
foe,"  and  who  had  been  hovering  around  the  Union  army 
for  some  days  after  it  crossed  the  Potomac,  reported 
that  General  Sheridan  was  in  command  and  was  ap 
proaching  Winchester  with  a  force  greatly  superior  to 
that  commanded  by  General  Early.  The  four  divisions 


320    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

of  Early's  little  army  were  commanded  at  this  time 
respectively  by  General  John  C.  Breckinridge,  the  "  Ken 
tucky  Game-cock,"  by  General  Rodes  of  Alabama,  who 
had  few  equals  in  either  army,  by  General  Ramseur  of 
North  Carolina,  who  was  a  most  valiant  and  skillful 
leader  of  men,  and  by  myself.  These  divisions  were 
widely  separated  from  one  another.  They  had  been  post 
ed  by  General  Early  in  position  for  guarding  the  different 
approaches  to  Winchester,  and  for  easy  concentration 
when  the  exigencies  of  the  campaign  should  require  it. 
The  reports  of  the  Federal  approach,  however,  did  not 
seem  to  impress  General  Early,  and  he  delayed  the  order 
for  concentration  until  Sheridan  was  upon  him,  ready 
to  devour  him  piecemeal,  a  division  at  a  time.  When  at 
last  the  order  came  to  me,  on  the  Martinsburg  pike,  to 
move  with  utmost  speed  to  Winchester,  the  far-off  rever 
berant  artillery  was  already  giving  painful  notice  that 
Ramseur  was  fighting  practically  alone,  while  the  in 
creasingly  violent  concussions  were  passionate  appeals 
to  the  other  divisions  for  help. 

As  the  fighting  was  near  Winchester,  through  which 
Mrs.  Gordon  was  compelled  to  pass  in  going  to  the  rear, 
she  drove  rapidly  down  the  pike  in  that  direction.  Her 
light  conveyance  was  drawn  by  two  horses  driven  by  a 
faithful  negro  boy,  who  was  as  anxious  to  escape  capture 
as  she.  As  she  overtook  the  troops  of  General  Rodes's 
division,  marching  to  the  aid  of  Ramseur,  and  drove 
into  their  midst,  a  cloud  of  dust  loomed  up  in  the  rear, 
and  a  wild  clatter  of  hoofs  announced,  "Cavalry  in 
pursuit ! "  General  Rodes  halted  a  body  of  his  men, 
and  threw  them  in  line  across  the  pike,  just  behind 
Mrs.  Gordon's  carriage,  as  she  hurried  on,  urged  by  the 
solicitude  of  the  "  boys  in  gray  "  around  her.  In  crossing 
a  wide  stream,  which  they  were  compelled  to  ford,  the 
tongue  of  the  carriage  broke  loose  from  the  axle.  The 
horses  went  on,  but  Mrs.  Gordon,  the  driver,  and  carriage 


SKNATOR  JOHN  B.  GORDON 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1896,  when  he  represented  Georgia  in 
the  United  States  Senate. 


WINCHESTER  321 

were  left  in  the  middle  of  the  stream.  She  barely 
escaped;  for  the  detachment  of  Union  cavalry  were 
still  in  pursuit  as  a  number  of  Confederate  soldiers 
rushed  into  the  stream,  dragged  the  carriage  out,  and 
by  some  temporary  makeshift  attached  the  tongue  and 
started  her  again  on  her  flight. 

Ramseur's  division  was  nearly  overwhelmed  and  Eodes 
was  heavily  pressed  as  the  head  of  my  column  reached 
the  crest  from  which  we  could  dimly  discern  the  steady 
advance  of  the  blue  lines  through  the  murky  clouds  of 
mingled  smoke  and  dust  that  rose  above  the  contending 
hosts. 

Breckinridge's  troops  were  also  furiously  fighting  on 
another  part  of  the  field,  and  they,  too,  were  soon  doubled 
up  by  charges  in  front  and  on  the  flank. 

This  left  practically  only  Rodes's  division  and  mine, 
with  parts  of  Ramseur's  bleeding  brigades,  not  more  than 
6000  men  in  all,  to  contend  with  Sheridan's  whole  army 
of  about  30,000  men,  reaching  in  both  directions  far  be 
yond  our  exposed  right  and  left.  In  the  absence  of 
specific  orders  from  the  commander-iii-chief,  I  rode  up 
to  Rodes  for  hasty  conference.  A  moment's  interchange 
of  views  brought  both  of  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
only  chance  to  save  our  commands  was  to  make  an  im 
petuous  and  simultaneous  charge  with  both  divisions,  in 
the  hope  of  creating  confusion  in  Sheridan's  lines,  so 
that  we  might  withdraw  in  good  order.  As  the  last 
words  between  us  were  spoken,  Rodes  fell,  mortally 
wounded,  near  my  horse's  feet,  and  was  borne  bleeding 
and  almost  lifeless  to  the  rear. 

There  are  times  in  battle— and  they  come  of  ten— when 
the  strain  and  the  quick  shifting  of  events  compel  the 
commander  to  stifle  sensibilities  and  silence  the  natural 
promptings  of  his  heart  as  cherished  friends  fall  around 
him.  This  was  one  of  those  occasions.  General  Rodes 
was  not  only  a  comrade  whom  I  greatly  admired,  but  a 


322   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR 

friend  whom  I  loved.  To  ride  away  without  even  ex 
pressing  to  him  my  deep  grief  was  sorely  trying  to  my 
feelings ;  but  I  had  to  go.  His  fall  had  left  both  divi 
sions  to  my  immediate  control  for  the  moment,  and  under 
the  most  perplexing  and  desperate  conditions. 

The  proposed  assault  on  Sheridan's  front  was  made 
with  an  impetuosity  that  caused  his  advancing  lines  to 
halt,  bend,  and  finally  to  break  at  different  points ;  but 
his  steadfast  battalions,  which  my  divisions  could  not 
reach  and  which  overlapped  me  in  both  directions, 
quickly  doubled  around  the  unprotected  right  and  left, 
throwing  the  Confederate  ranks  into  inextricable  con 
fusion  and  making  orderly  retreat  impossible.  Mean 
time,  that  superb  fighter,  General  Wharton  of  Virginia, 
had  repelled  from  my  rear  and  left  flank  a  number  of 
charges  by  Sheridan's  cavalry;  but  finally  the  over 
powered  Confederate  cavalry  was  broken  and  Wharton's 
infantry  forced  back,  leaving  the  vast  plain  to  our  left 
open  for  the  almost  unobstructed  sweep  of  the  Federal 
horsemen. 

General  Breckinridge,  who  had  scarcely  a  corporal's 
guard  of  his  magnificent  division  around  him,  rode  to 
my  side.  His  Apollo-like  face  was  begrimed  with  sweat 
and  smoke.  He  was  desperately  reckless— the  imperson 
ation  of  despair.  He  literally  seemed  to  court  death. 
Indeed,  to  my  protest  against  his  unnecessary  exposure 
by  riding  at  my  side,  he  said :  "  Well,  general,  there  is 
little  left  for  me  if  our  cause  is  to  fail."  Later,  when  the 
cause  had  failed,  he  acted  upon  this  belief  and  left  the 
country,  and  only  returned  after  long  absence,  to  end 
his  brilliant  career  in  coveted  privacy  among  his  Ken 
tucky  friends. 

To  my  horror,  as  I  rode  among  my  disorganized  troops 
through  Winchester  I  found  Mrs.  Gordon  on  the  street, 
where  shells  from  Sheridan's  batteries  were  falling  and 
Minie  balls  flying  around  her.  She  was  apparently  un- 


WINCHESTER  323 

conscious  of  the  danger.  I  had  supposed  that,  in  accord 
ance  with  instructions,  she  had  gone  to  the  rear  at  the 
opening  of  the  battle,  and  was  many  miles  away.  But 
she  was  stopping  at  the  house  of  her  friend  Mrs.  Hugh 
Lee,  and  as  the  first  Confederates  began  to  pass  to  the 
rear,  she  stood  upon  the  veranda,  appealing  to  them  to 
return  to  the  front.  Many  yielded  to  her  entreaties  and 
turned  back— one  waggish  fellow  shouting  aloud  to  his 
comrades :  "  Come,  boys,  let  's  go  back.  We  might  not 
obey  the  general,  but  we  can't  resist  Mrs.  Gordon."  The 
fact  is,  it  was  the  first  time  in  all  her  army  experience  that 
she  had  ever  seen  the  Confederate  lines  broken.  As  the 
different  squads  passed,  she  inquired  to  what  command 
they  belonged.  When,  finally,  to  her  question  the  answer 
came,  "  We  are  Gordon's  men,"  she  lost  her  self-control, 
and  rushed  into  the  street,  urging  them  to  go  back  and 
meet  the  enemy.  She  was  thus  engaged  when  I  found 
her.  I  insisted  that  she  go  immediately  into  the  house, 
where  she  would  be  at  least  partially  protected.  She 
obeyed ;  but  she  did  not  for  a  moment  accept  my  state 
ment  that  there  was  nothing  left  for  her  except  capture 
by  Sheridan's  army0  I  learned  afterward  that  her  negro 
driver  had  been  frightened  by  the  shells  bursting  about 
the  stable,  and  had  not  brought  out  her  carriage  and 
horses.  She  acquainted  some  of  my  men  with  these  facts. 
With  the  assurance,  "  We  '11  get  it  for  you,  Mrs.  Gordon," 
they  broke  down  the  fences  and  brought  the  carriage 
to  her  a  few  moments  after  I  had  passed  on.  She  sprang 
into  it,  and,  taking  her  six-year-old  son  Frank  and  one 
or  two  wounded  officers  with  her,  she  was  driven  rapidly 
away  amidst  the  flying  missiles  from  Sheridan's  advan 
cing  troops  and  with  the  prayers  of  my  brave  men  for 
her  safety. 

The  pursuit  was  pressed  far  into  the  twilight,  and  only 
ended  when  night  came  and  dropped  her  protecting 
curtains  around  us. 


324   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

Drearily  and  silently,  with  burdened  brams  and  ach 
ing  hearts,  leaving  our  dead  and  many  of  the  wounded 
behind  us,  we  rode  hour  after  hour,  with  our  sore-footed, 
suffering  men  doing  their  best  to  keep  up,  anxiously 
inquiring  for  their  commands  and  eagerly  listening  for 
orders  to  halt  and  sleep. 

Lucky  was  the  Confederate  private  who  on  that 
mournful  retreat  knew  his  own  captain,  and  most  lucky 
was  the  commander  who  knew  where  to  find  the  main 
body  of  his  own  troops.  The  only  lamps  to  guide  us 
were  the  benignant  stars,  dimly  lighting  the  gray  sur 
face  of  the  broad  limestone  turnpike.  It  was,  however, 
a  merciful  darkness.  It  came  too  slowly  for  our  com 
fort;  but  it  came  at  last,  and  screened  our  weary  and 
confused  infantry  from  further  annoyance  by  Sheridan's 
horsemen.  Little  was  said  by  any  officer.  Each  was 
left  to  his  own  thoughts  and  the  contemplation  of  the 
shadows  that  were  thickening  around  us.  What  was 
the  morrow  to  bring,  or  the  next  month,  or  the  next 
year?  There  was  no  limit  to  lofty  courage,  to  loyal 
devotion,  and  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice ;  but  where  were 
the  men  to  come  from  to  take  the  places  of  the  maimed 
and  the  dead!  Where  were  the  arsenals  from  which  to 
replace  the  diminishing  materials  of  war  so  essential  to 
our  future  defence  ?  It  was  evident  that  these  thoughts 
were  running  through  the  brains  of  rank  and  file ;  for 
now  and  then  there  came  a  cheering  flash  of  rustic  wit 
or  grim  humor  from  the  privates :  "  Cheer  up,  boys ; 
don't  be  worried.  We  '11  lick  them  Yankees  the  first  fair 
chance,  and  get  more  grub  and  guns  and  things  than 
our  poor  old  quartermaster  mules  can  pull."  Distinct 
in  my  memory  now  (they  will  be  there  till  I  die)  are 
those  startling  manifestations  of  a  spirit  which  nothing 
could  break,  that  strange  commingling  of  deep-drawn 
sighs  and  merry  songs,  the  marvellous  blending  of  an 
hour  of  despair  with  an  hour  of  bounding  hope,  inspired 


WINCHESTER  325 

by  the  most  resolute  manhood  ever  exhibited  in  any  age 
or  country. 

At  a  late  hour  of  the  night  on  that  doleful  retreat,  the 
depressing  silence  was  again  broken  by  a  characteristic 
shot  at  General  Breckinridge  from  Early's  battery  of 
good-natured  sarcasm,  which  was  always  surcharged 
and  ready  to  go  off  at  the  slightest  touch.  These  two 
soldiers  became  very  good  friends  after  the  war  began, 
but  previously  they  had  held  antagonistic  political  views. 
Early  was  an  uncompromising  Unionist  until  Virginia 
passed  the  ordinance  of  secession.  Breckinridge,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  long  been  a  distinguished  champion 
of  what  was  called  "  the  rights  of  the  South  in  the  Ter 
ritories,"  and  in  1860  he  wTas  nominated  for  President 
by  the  "  Southern  Rights "  wing  of  the  Democratic 
party.  The  prospect  of  establishing  Southern  rights  by 
arms  was  not  encouraging  on  that  dismal  retreat  from 
Winchester.  General  Early  could  not  resist  the  tempta 
tion  presented  by  the  conditions  around  us ;  and,  at  a 
time  when  the  oppressive  stillness  was  disturbed  only 
by  the  dull  sound  of  tramping  feet  and  tinkling  can 
teens,  his  shrill  tones  rang  out : 

"  General  Breckinridge,  what  do  you  think  of  the 
*  rights  of  the  South  in  the  Territories '  now ! " 

Breckinridge  made  no  reply.  He  was  in  no  humor 
for  badinage,  or  for  reminiscences  of  the  period  of  his 
political  power  when  he  was  Kentucky's  most  eloquent 
representative  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  or  pleaded  for 
Southern  rights  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  or  made 
parliamentary  rulings  as  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,  or  carried  the  flag  of  a  great  party  as  its  selected 
candidate  for  the  still  higher  office  of  President. 

When  the  night  was  far  spent  and  a  sufficient  distance 
between  the  Confederate  rear  and  Union  front  had  been 
reached,  there  came  the  order  to  halt  —  more  grateful 
than  sweetest  music  to  the  weary  soldiers'  ears ;  and  down 


326   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

they  dropped  upon  their  beds  of  grass  or  earth,  their  heads 
pillowed  on  dust-covered  knapsacks,  their  rifles  at  their 
sides,  and  their  often  shoeless  feet  bruised  and  aching. 

But  they  slept.  Priceless  boon — sleep  and  rest  for 
tired  frame  and  heart  and  brain ! 

General  Sheridan  graciously  granted  us  two  days  and 
a  part  of  the  third  to  sleep  and  rest  and  pull  ourselves 
together  for  the  struggle  of  September  22.  The  battle, 
or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  the  bout  at  Fisher's  Hill, 
was  so  quickly  ended  that  it  may  be  described  in  a  few 
words.  Indeed,  to  all  experienced  soldiers  the  whole 
story  is  told  in  one  word  —  "  flanked." 

We  had  again  halted  and  spread  our  banners  on  the 
ramparts  which  nature  built  along  the  Shenandoah's 
banks.  Our  stay  was  short,  however,  and  our  leaving 
was  hurried,  without  ceremony  or  concert.  It  is  the 
old  story  of  failure  to  protect  flanks.  Although  the 
Union  forces  more  than  doubled  Early 's  army,  our  posi 
tion  was  such  that  in  our  stronghold  we  could  have 
whipped  General  Sheridan  had  the  weak  point  on  our 
left  been  sufficiently  protected.  Sheridan  demonstrated 
in  front  while  he  slipped  his  infantry  around  our  left  and 
completely  enveloped  that  flank.  An  effort  was  made 
to  move  Battle  and  Wharton  to  the  enveloped  flank  in 
order  to  protect  it,  but  the  effort  was  made  too  late. 
The  Federals  saw  their  advantage,  and  seized  and 
pressed  it.  The  Confederates  saw  the  hopelessness  of 
their  situation,  and  realized  that  they  had  only  the  option 
of  retreat  or  capture.  They  were  not  long  in  deciding. 
The  retreat  (it  is  always  so)  was  at  first  stubborn  and 
slow,  then  rapid,  then  —  a  rout. 

It  is  not  just  to  blame  the  troops.  There  are  condi 
tions  in  war  when  courage,  firmness,  steadiness  of 
nerve,  and  self-reliance  are  of  small  avail.  Such  were 
the  conditions  at  Fisher's  Hill. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

CEDAR  CHEEK— A  VICTORY  AND  A  DEFEAT 

Sheridan's  dallying  for  twenty-six  days— Arrival  of  General  Kershaw- 
Position  of  Early's  army  with  reference  to  Sheridan's— The  outlook 
from  Massanutten  Mountain— Weakness  of  Sheridan's  left  revealed— 
The  plan  of  battle— A  midnight  march— Complete  surprise  and  rout 
of  Sheridan's  army— Early's  decision  not  to  follow  up  the  victory— 
Why  Sheridan's  ride  succeeded — Victory  changed  into  defeat. 

NEARLY  a  month— twenty-six  days,  to  be  exact— of 
comparative  rest  and  recuperation  ensued  after 
Fisher's  Hill.  General  Sheridan  followed  our  retreat 
very  languidly.  The  record  of  one  day  did  not  differ 
widely  from  the  record  of  every  other  day  of  the  twenty- 
six.  His  cavalry  manoeuvred  before  ours,  and  ours 
manoeuvred  before  his.  His  artillery  saluted,  and  ours 
answered.  His  infantry  made  demonstrations,  and  ours 
responded  by  forming  lines.  This  was  all  very  fine  for 
Early's  battered  little  army;  and  it  seemed  that  Sheri 
dan's  victories  of  the  19th  and  22d  had  been  so  costly, 
notwithstanding  his  great  preponderance  in  numbers, 
that  he  sympathized  with  our  desire  for  a  few  weeks  of 
dallying.  He  appeared  to  be  anxious  to  do  just  enough 
to  keep  us  reminded  that  he  was  still  there.  So  he  de 
cided  upon  a  season  of  burning,  instead  of  battling ;  of 
assaults  with  matches  and  torches  upon  barns  and  hay 
stacks,  instead  of  upon  armed  men  who  were  lined  up  in 
front  of  him. 

The  province  of  uncomplimentary  criticism  is  a  most 

327 


328    KEMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

distasteful  one  to  me.  It  would  be  far  more  agreeable 
to  applaud  and  eulogize  every  officer  in  both  armies  of 
whom  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  speak.  But  if  I  write  at 
all,  I  must  write  as  I  think.  I  must  be  honest  with  my 
self,  and  honest  with  those  who  may  do  me  the  honor  to 
read  what  I  write.  In  a  former  chapter  I  have  already 
spoken  of  General  Sheridan  as  probably  the  most  brill 
iant  cavalry  officer  who  fought  on  the  Union  side.  I 
shall  not  be  misunderstood,  therefore,  when  I  say  that 
his  twenty-six  days  of  apparent  indecision,  of  feeble 
pursuit,  of  discursive  and  disjointed  fighting  after  his 
two  crushing  victories,  are  to  me  a  military  mystery. 
Why  did  he  halt  or  hesitate,  why  turn  to  the  torch  in 
the  hope  of  starving  his  enemy,  instead  of  beating  him 
in  resolute  battle?  Would  Grant  have  thus  hesitated 
for  a  month  or  a  day  under  such  conditions — with  a 
broken  army  in  his  front,  and  his  own  greatly  superior 
in  numbers  and  inspired  by  victory!  How  long  would 
it  require  any  intelligent  soldier  who  fought  under  Grant, 
or  against  him,  to  answer  that  question  ? 

General  Meade  was  criticised  for  the  delay  of  a  single 
day  at  Gettysburg— for  not  assailing  the  Confederate 
army  the  next  morning  after  the  last  Southern  assault- 
after  the  brilliant  charge  and  bloody  repulse  of  Pickett's 
command.  From  the  standpoint  of  a  Confederate  who 
participated  in  the  conflicts  both  at  Gettysburg  and  in 
the  Valley,  I  feel  impelled  to  say,  and  with  absolute  im 
partiality,  that  the  Union  archers  who  from  sheltered 
positions  in  Washington  hurled  their  sharpened  arrows 
at  Union  generals  in  the  field  for  not  gathering  the 
fruits  of  victory  must  have  emptied  their  quivers  into 
Meade,  or  have  broken  their  bows  prior  to  that  month 
of  Sheridan's  campaigning  after  the  19th  and  22d  of 
September. 

From  my  point  of  view,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  Meade 
halted  after  the  Confederate  repulse  of  the  last  day  at 


CEDAR   CREEK  329 

Gettysburg.  In  his  front  was  Robert  E.  Lee,  still  reso 
lute  and  defiant.  The  Confederate  commander  had  not 
been  driven  one  foot  from  his  original  position.  He  was 
supported  by  an  army  still  complete  in  organization, 
with  faith  in  its  great  leader  and  its  own  prowess  undi- 
minished,  eagerly  waiting  for  the  Union  troops  to  leave 
the  trenches,  and  ready  at  Lee's  command  to  retrieve  in 
open  field  and  at  any  sacrifice  the  loss  of  the  victory 
which  it  had  been  impossible  to  wrench  from  Meade's 
splendid  army  intrenched  on  the  heights  and  flanked 
by  the  Round  Tops.  It  is  not  so  easy,  however,  to 
furnish  an  explanation  for  Sheridan's  indecision  after 
Winchester  and  Fisher's  Hill.  There  was  no  Robert  E. 
Lee  in  his  front,  inspiring  unfaltering  faith.  The  men 
before  whom  Sheridan  hesitated  were  not  complete  in 
organization,  as  were  the  men  at  Gettysburg,  who  still 
held  their  original  lines  and  were  still  confident  of  vic 
tory  in  open  field.  On  the  contrary,  the  army  before 
him,  although  riot  demoralized,  was  vastly  inferior  to 
his  own  in  numbers  and  equipment — of  which  fact  every 
officer  and  private  was  cognizant.  It  had  been  shattered 
and  driven  in  precipitate  flight  from  every  portion  of 
both  fields.  Why  did  General  Sheridan  hesitate  to  hurl 
his  inspirited  and  overwhelming  army  upon  us  1  Why 
retreat  and  intrench  and  wait  to  be  assaulted  1  Was  it 
because  of  commanding  necessity,  or  from  what  George 
Washington  would  have  termed  "untimely  discretion"? 
Taking  advantage  of  Sheridan's  tardiness,  Early  with 
drew  from  the  main  pike  to  Brown's  Gap  in  order  to 
refresh  his  little  army.  Brown's  Gap  was  the  same  grand 
amphitheatre  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  in  which 
General  Jackson  had  rested  two  years  before,  during 
that  wonderful  campaign  so  graphically  described  by 
Colonel  Henderson,  of  the  British  army,  in  his  "Life  of 
Stonewall  Jackson."  In  that  campaign,  Jackson  had 
baffled  arid  beaten  four  Union  armies,  under  Milroy, 


330   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Banks,  Fremont,  and  Shields,  each  larger  than  his  own : 
and  having  thus  cleared  the  Valley  of  Federal  troops. 
had  promptly  joined  in  the  seven  days'  battles  around 
Eichmond,  which  drove  McClellan  to  the  protection  of 
his  gunboats,  and  prevented  a  long  siege  of  the  Con 
federate  capital. 

This  reference  to  Early's  encampment  on  the  moun 
tain-rimmed  plateau,  to  which  Jackson  withdrew  at  in 
tervals  in  his  marvellous  campaign,  reminds  me  that 
unfair  contrasts  have  been  drawn  between  the  results 
achieved  by  these  two  generals  in  the  same  Valley.  It 
is  only  just  to  General  Early  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  General  Jackson  was  never,  in  any  one  of  his  great 
battles,  there,  so  greatly  outnumbered  as  was  General 
Early  at  Winchester  and  Fisher's  Hill.  Early  had  in 
neither  of  these  battles  more  than  10,000  men,  including 
all  arms  of  the  service,  while  the  Official  Reports  show 
that  General  Sheridan  brought  against  him  over  30,000 
well-equipped  troops.  The  marvel  is  that  Early  was  not 
utterly  routed  and  his  army  captured  by  the  Union  cav 
alry  in  the  early  morning  at  Winchester;  for,  at  the 
opening  of  the  battle,  Early's  divisions  were  separated  by 
a  greater  distance  than  intervened  between  Sheridan  and 
the  Confederate  command  which  he  first  struck.  The 
magnificently  mounted  and  equipped  Union  cavalry 
alone  very  nearly  equalled  in  number  Early's  entire 
army.  With  an  open  country  and  fordable  streams  be 
fore  him,  with  an  immense  preponderance  in  numbers, 
it  seems  incomprehensible  that  General  Sheridan  should 
have  failed  to  destroy  utterly  General  Early's  army  by 
promptly  and  vigorously  following  up  the  advantages 
resulting  at  Winchester  and  Fisher's  Hill. 

While  we  were  resting  on  Jackson's  "old  camp 
ground,"  which  kind  nature  seemed  to  have  supplied  as 
an  inspiring  and  secure  retreat  for  the  defenders  of  the 
Valley,  General  Kershaw,  who  was  one  of  the  ablest 


CEDAR  CREEK  331 

division  commanders  in  Lee's  army,  came  with  his  dash 
ing  South  Carolinians  to  reenforce  and  cheer  Early's 
brave  and  weary  men.  The  most  seasoned  American 
troops,  and  especially  volunteer  forces,  composed  largely 
of  immature  boys,  are  under  such  conditions  as  subject 
to  capricious  humors  as  are  volatile  Frenchmen.  This 
was  true  at  least  of  the  warm-hearted,  impetuous  South 
ern  boys  who  filled  our  ranks.  But  no  change  of  condi 
tions  or  sudden  caprice  ever  involved  the  slightest 
diminution  of  devotion  to  the  Southern  cause.  Whether 
victorious  or  defeated,  they  were  always  resolved  to 
fight  it  out  to  the  last  extremity.  The  arrival  of  Ker- 
shaw's  division  awakened  the  latent  enthusiasm  with 
which  they  had  pommelled  Sheridan  at  the  beginning 
of  the  battle  of  Winchester,  but  which  had  been  made 
dormant  by  the  subsequent  disastrous  defeats  on  that 
field  and  at  Fisher's  Hill.  The  news  of  Kershaw's  ap 
proach  ran  along  the  sleeping  ranks,  and  aroused  them 
as  if  an  electric  battery  had  been  sending  its  stimulating 
current  through  their  weary  bodies.  Cheer  after  cheer 
came  from  their  husky  throats  and  rolled  along  the 
mountain  cliffs,  the  harbinger  of  a  coming  victory. 
"  Hurrah  for  the  Palmetto  boys !  "  "  Glad  to  see  you, 
South  Ca'liny  !  "  "  Whar  did  you  come  from ! "  "  Did 
you  bring  any  more  guns  for  Phil  Sheridan?"  We 
had  delivered  a  number  of  guns  to  that  officer  without 
taking  any  receipts  for  them;  but  the  Confederate  au 
thorities  at  Richmond  were  still  straining  every  nerve  to 
supply  us  with  more.  Among  the  pieces  of  artillery 
sent  us  by  the  War  Department  was  a  long  black  rifle- 
cannon,  on  which  some  wag  had  printed  in  white  letters 
words  to  this  effect :  "  Respectfully  consigned  to  General 
Sheridan  through  General  Early";  and  Sheridan  got  it. 
Some  days  later  at  Cedar  Creek,  or  on  some  other  field, 
Sheridan's  men  captured  the  gun  which  had  been  con 
signed  to  him  "  through  General  Early." 


332  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

On  the  morning  of  the  surrender  at  Appomattox,  just 
prior  to  the  meeting  of  Lee  and  Grant,  General  Sheri 
dan  referred,  in  our  conversation,  to  this  incident. 

The  arrival  of  reenforcernents  under  Kershaw  not  only 
revived  the  hopes  of  our  high-mettled  men,  but  enabled 
General  Early  and  his  division  commanders  to  await 
with  confidence  General  Sheridan's  advance,  which  was 
daily  expected.  He  did  not  come,  however.  Our  rations 
were  nearly  exhausted,  and  after  holding  a  council  of 
war,  General  Early  decided  to  advance  upon  the  Union 
forces  strongly  intrenched  on  the  left  bank  of  Cedar 
Creek. 

No  battle  of  the  entire  war,  with  the  single  exception 
of  Gettysburg,  has  provoked  such  varied  and  conflicting 
comments  and  such  prolonged  controversy  as  this  re 
markable  engagement  between  Sheridan  and  Early  at 
Cedar  Creek.  No  battle  has  been  so  greatly  misunder 
stood  in  important  particulars,  nor  have  the  accounts  of 
any  battle  been  so  productive  of  injustice  to  certain  actors 
in  it,  nor  so  strangely  effective  in  converting  misappre 
hensions  into  so-called  history.  Some  of  these  misappre 
hensions  I  shall  endeavor  to  correct  in  this  and  succeed 
ing  chapters ;  and,  so  far  as  I  am  able,  I  shall  do  justice 
to  the  men  to  whom  it  has  been  denied  for  so  many 
years.  I  do  not  underestimate  the  nature  of  the  task.  I 
now  undertake ;  but  every  statement  made  by  me  bear 
ing  on  controverted  points  will  be  supported  by  the 
Official  Records  which  the  Government  has  published  in 
recent  years,  and  by  other  incontrovertible  proofs.  It 
is  enough  to  say,  in  explanation  of  this  long-deferred 
effort  on  my  part,  that  I  had  no  access  to  official  reports 
until  they  were  made  public ;  and  until  very  recently  I 
did  not  doubt  that  my  own  official  report  of  Cedar 
Creek  would  be  published  with  others,  and  stand  beside 
the  others,  and  that  the  facts  stated  in  my  report  would 
vindicate  the  brave  men  who  fought  that  marvellous 


CEDAR  CREEK  333 

battle.  It  seems,  however,  that  ray  report  never  reached 
General  Lee,  or  was  lost  when  his  official  papers  were 
captured  at  the  fall  of  the  Confederate  capital. 

On  the  right  of  the  Confederate  line,  as  drawn  up  at 
Fisher's  Hill,  was  Massanutten  Mountain,  rising  to  a 
great  height,  and  so  rugged  and  steep  as  to  make  our 
position  practically  unassailable  on  that  flank.  It  was 
also  the  generally  accepted  belief  that  this  mountain 
was  an  absolute  barrier  against  any  movement  by  our 
army  in  that  direction.  The  plan  of  battle,  therefore, 
which  had  been  adopted  was  to  move  upon  Sheridan  in 
the  other  direction  or  by  our  left.  I  was  not  entirely 
satisfied  with  the  general  plan  of  attack,  and  decided  to 
go  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  where  a  Confederate 
Signal  Corps  had  been  placed,  and  from  that  lofty  peak 
to  survey  and  study  Sheridan's  position  and  the  topog 
raphy  of  the  intervening  country.  I  undertook  the 
ascent  of  the  rugged  steep,  accompanied  by  that  superb 
officer,  General  Clement  A.  Evans  of  Georgia,  in  whose 
conservatism  and  sound  judgment  I  had  the  most  im 
plicit  confidence,  and  by  Captain  Hotchkiss1  of  General 
Early 's  staff,  and  my  chief  of  staff,  Major  Robert  W. 
Hunter.  Through  tangled  underbrush  and  over  giant 
boulders  and  jutting  cliffs  we  finally  reached  the  summit, 
from  which  the  entire  landscape  was  plainly  visible.  It 
was  an  inspiring  panorama.  With  strong  field-glasses, 
every  road  and  habitation  and  hill  and  stream  could  be 
seen  and  noted.  The  abruptly  curved  and  precipitous 
highlands  bordering  Cedar  Creek,  on  which  the  army  of 
Sheridan  was  strongly  posted ;  the  historic  Shenandoah, 
into  which  Cedar  Creek  emptied  at  the  foot  of  the  tow 
ering  peak  on  which  we  stood,  and,  most  important  and 
intensely  interesting  of  all,  the  entire  Union  army— all 

1  See  Journal  of  Captain  Jed  Hotchkiss  of  General  Early's  staff,  penned  at 
the  time,  and  published  in  War  Records,  First  Series,  Vol.  XLIII,  Part  I, 
p.  580,  Monday,  October  17. 


334   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

seemed  but  a  stone's  throw  away  from  us  as  we  stood 
contemplating  the  scene  through  the  magnifying  lenses 
of  our  field-glasses.  Not  only  the  general  outlines  of 
Sheridan's  breastworks,  but  every  parapet  where  his 
heavy  guns  were  mounted,  and  every  piece  of  artillery, 
every  wagon  and  tent  and  supporting  line  of  troops, 
were  in  easy  range  of  our  vision.  I  could  count,  and 
did  count,  the  number  of  his  guns.  I  could  see  dis 
tinctly  the  three  colors  of  trimmings  on  the  jackets  re 
spectively  of  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry,  and  locate 
each,  while  the  number  of  flags  gave  a  basis  for  estimat 
ing  approximately  the  forces  with  which  WQ  were  to 
contend  in  the  proposed  attack.  If,  however,  the  plan 
of  battle  which  at  once  suggested  itself  to  my  mind 
should  be  adopted,  it  mattered  little  how  large  a  force 
General  Sheridan  had ;  for  the  movement  which  I  in 
tended  to  propose  contemplated  the  turning  of  Sheri 
dan's  flank  where  he  least  expected  it,  a  sudden  irruption 
upon  his  left  and  rear,  and  the  complete  surprise  of  his 
entire  army. 

It  was  unmistakably  evident  that  General  Sheridan 
concurred  in  the  universally  accepted  opinion  that  it 
was  impracticable  for  the  Confederates  to  pass  or  march 
along  the  rugged  and  almost  perpendicular  face  of  Mas- 
sanutten  Mountain  and  assail  his  left.  This  fact  was 
made  manifest  at  the  first  sweep  of  the  eye  from  that 
mountain-top.  For  he  had  left  that  end  of  his  line  with 
no  protection  save  the  natural  barriers,  and  a  very  small 
detachment  of  cavalry  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
with  vedettes  on  their  horses  in  the  middle  of  the  stream. 
His  entire  force  of  superb  cavalry  was  massed  on  his 
right,  where  he  supposed,  as  all  others  had  supposed, 
that  General  Early  must  come,  if  he  came  with  any  hope 
of  success.  The  disposition  of  his  divisions  and  avail 
able  resources  were  all  for  defence  of  his  right  flank 
and  front,  or  for  aggressive  movement  from  one  or  both 


CEDAR   CREEK  335 

of  these  points.  As  to  his  left  flank  —  well,  that  needed 
no  defence ;  the  impassable  Massanutten,  with  the  Shen- 
andoah  River  at  its  base,  was  the  sufficient  protecting 
fortress.  Thus  reasoned  the  commanders  of  each  of  the 
opposing  armies.  Both  were  of  the  same  mind,  and  Early 
prepared  to  assail,  and  Sheridan  to  defend,  his  right  and 
centre  only.  Captain  Hotchkiss,  who  was  an  engineer, 
made  a  rough  map  of  the  positions  in  our  view. 

It  required,  therefore,  no  transcendent  military  genius 
to  decide  quickly  and  unequivocally  upon  the  movement 
which  the  conditions  invited.  I  was  so  deeply  impressed 
by  the  situation  revealed  to  us,  so  sure  that  it  afforded  an 
opportunity  for  an  overwhelming  Confederate  victory, 
that  I  expressed  to  those  around  me  the  conviction  that 
if  General  Early  would  adopt  the  plan  of  battle  which  I 
would  submit,  and  would  press  it  to  its  legitimate  results, 
the  destruction  of  Sheridan's  army  was  inevitable.  In 
deed,  there  are  those  still  living  who  remember  my  state 
ment  that  if  General  Early  would  acquiesce,  and  the  plan 
failed,  I  would  assume  the  responsibility  of  failure.1 
Briefly,  the  plan  was  to  abandon  serious  attack  of  Sheri 
dan's  forces  where  all  things  were  in  readiness,  making 
only  a  demonstration  upon  that  right  flank  by  Rosser's 
cavalry  dismounted,  and  upon  the  centre  by  a  movement 
of  infantry  and  artillery  along  the  pike,  while  the  heavy 
and  decisive  blow  should  be  given  upon  the  Union  left, 
where  no  preparation  was  made  to  resist  us.  This  move 
ment  on  the  left  I  myself  proposed  to  make  with  the  Sec 
ond  Army  Corps,  led  by  General  Clement  A.  Evans's 
division,  followed  by  Ramseur's  and  Pegram's. 

"But  how  are  you  going  to  pass  the  precipice  of 
Massanutten  Mountain  ? " 

That  was  the  one  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  successful 

1  See  statements  of  General  Evans,  General  Rosser,  General  Wharton, 
Major  R.  W.  Hunter,  and  of  Thomas  G.  Jones,  ex-governor  of  Alabama 
and  now  United  States  judge. 


336    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

execution  of  the  plan  I  intended  to  submit,  and  I  felt  sure 
that  this  could  be  overcome.  A  dim  and  narrow  path 
way  was  found,  along  which  but  one  man  could  pass  at 
a  time ;  but  by  beginning  the  movement  at  nightfall  the 
entire  corps  could  be  passed  before  daylight. 

This  plan  was  finally  adopted  by  General  Early,  and 
the  movement  was  begun  with  the  coming  of  the  dark 
ness.  The  men  were  stripped  of  canteens  and  of  every 
thing  calculated  to  make  noise  and  arouse  Sheridan's 
pickets  below  us,  and  our  watches  were  set  so  that  at 
the  same  moment  the  right,  the  centre,  and  the  left  of 
Sheridan  should  be  assaulted.  With  every  man,  from 
the  commanders  of  divisions  to  the  brave  privates  under 
them,  impressed  with  the  gravity  of  our  enterprise, 
speaking  only  when  necessary  and  then  in  whispers,  and 
striving  to  suppress  every  sound,  the  long  gray  line 
like  a  great  serpent  glided  noislessly  along  the  dim  path 
way  above  the  precipice.  Before  the  hour  agreed  upon 
for  the  simultaneous  attack,  my  entire  command  had 
slowly  and  safely  passed  the  narrow  and  difficult  defile. 

Some  watchful  and  keen-eyed  Confederate  thought  he 
discovered  ahead  of  us  two  of  the  enemy's  pickets.  If 
they  should  fire  their  rifles  it  would  give  to  Sheridan's 
vedettes  the  alarm  and  possibly  seriously  interfere  with 
our  success.  I  sent  Jones  of  my  staff,  with  a  well- trained 
scout  and  one  or  two  others,  noiselessly  to  capture  them. 
Concealing  their  movements  behind  a  fence  until  near 
the  point  where  the  pickets  stood,  my  men  crawled  on 
hands  and  knees,  and  were  in  the  act  of  demanding  sur 
render  when  they  discovered  that  the  two  hostile  figures 
were  cedar-bushes  in  the  corner  of  the  rail  fence. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  I  had  directed  that  one  of  my 
couriers  be  stationed  at  every  fork  of  the  dim  pathway 
after  it  left  the  mountain,  to  avoid  the  possibility  of 
missing  the  way  which  I  had  selected  to  the  ford  of  the 
river.  At  one  fork,  however,  a  small  tree  across  the  right- 


CEDAR  CREEK  337 

hand  road  was  sufficient  to  guide  us  into  the  road  on  the 
left,  which  was  the  proper  one.  Late  that  afternoon,  a 
farmer  passed  with  his  wagon  and  threw  this  sapling 
across  the  other  road.  But  small  things  impress  them 
selves  very  vividly  at  such  momentous  times,  and  when 
we  reached  that  point  in  our  night  march  I  thought  at 
once  that  the  tree  had  been  moved.  To  leave  no  doubt  on 
so  vital  a  point,  a  member  of  my  staff  inquired  at  a  near-by 
cabin,  and  we  had  our  impressions  confirmed  by  the  old 
man  who  had  come  so  near  being  the  innocent  cause  of 
our  taking  the  road  away  from  the  ford.  On  such  small 
things  sometimes  hangs  the  fate  of  great  battles. 

For  nearly  an  hour  we  waited  for  the  appointed  time, 
resting  near  the  bank  of  the  river  in  the  middle  of  which 
the  Union  vedettes  sat  upon  their  horses,  wholly  uncon 
scious  of  the  presence  of  the  gray-jacketed  foe,  who 
from  the  ambush  of  night,  like  crouching  lions  from  the 
jungle,  were  ready  to  spring  upon  them.  The  whole 
situation  was  unspeakably  impressive.  Everything  con 
spired  to  make  the  conditions  both  thrilling  and  weird. 
The  men  were  resting,  lying  in  long  lines  on  the  thickly 
matted  grass  or  reclining  in  groups,  their  hearts  thump 
ing,  their  ears  eagerly  listening  for  the  orders :  "  Atten 
tion,  men !  "  u  Fall  in  !  "  "  Forward !  "  At  brief  intervals 
members  of  the  staff  withdrew  to  a  point  where  they 
could  safely  strike  a  match  and  examine  watches  in 
order  to  keep  me  advised  of  the  time.  In  the  still  star 
lit  night,  the  only  sounds  heard  were  the  gentle  rustle 
of  leaves  by  the  October  wind,  the  low  murmur  of  the 
Shenandoah  flowing  swiftly  along  its  rocky  bed  and 
dashing  against  the  limestone  cliffs  that  bordered  it,  the 
churning  of  the  water  by  the  feet  of  horses  on  which  sat 
Sheridan's  faithful  pickets,  and  the  subdued  tones  or 
half-whispers  of  my  men  as  they  thoughtfully  com 
muned  with  each  other  as  to  the  fate  which  might  befall 
each  in  the  next  hour. 


338    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAE 

It  was  during  this  weird  time  of  waiting  that  my  com 
rade  and  friend,  General  Ramseur,  had  that  wonderful 
presentiment  of  his  coming  fate.  Before  the  battle 
ended,  his  premonition  had  been  proved  a  literal  prophecy, 
and  his  voice  was  silenced  forever. 

His  mantle  fell  upon  one  worthy  to  wear  it.  General 
Bryan  Grimes  of  North  Carolina  had  already  distin 
guished  himself  among  the  illustrious  sons  of  a  State 
prolific  in  a  soldiery  unsurpassed  in  any  war,  and  his 
record  as  chief  of  this  stalwart  command  added  to  his 
high  reputation. 

The  minute-hand  of  the  watch  admonished  us  that  it 
was  time  to  move  in  order  to  reach  Sheridan's  flank  at 
the  hour  agreed  upon.  General  Payne  of  Virginia,  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  knightly  soldiers  in  the  Confed 
erate  army,  plunged  with  his  intrepid  cavalry  into  the 
river,  and  firing  as  they  went  upon  Sheridan's  mounted 
pickets  and  supporting  squadrons,  the  Virginians  dashed 
in  pursuit  as  if  in  steeplechase  with  the  Union  riders, 
the  coveted  goal  for  both  being  the  rear  of  Sheridan's 
army.  The  Federals  sought  it  for  safet}^.  Payne  was 
seeking  it  to  spread  confusion  and  panic  in  the  Federal 
ranks  and  camps ;  and  magnificently  did  he  accomplish 
his  purpose. 

In  my  survey  of  the  field  from  the  mountain-top  I  had 
located  Sheridan's  headquarters;  and  this  daring  Vir 
ginian  enthusiastically  agreed  to  ride  into  the  Union 
camps  on  the  heels  of  the  flying  body  of  Federal  cavalry, 
and,  by  sudden  dash  at  headquarters,  attempt  to  capture 
the  commander-in- chief  and  bring  him  back  as  a  cavalry 
trophy. 

As  soon  as  Payne  had  cleared  the  ford  for  the  infantry, 
Evans,  with  his  Virginians,  North  Carolinians,  and  Geor 
gians,  the  old  Stonewall  Brigade  leading,  rushed  into 
the  cold  current  of  the  Shenandoah,  chilled  as  it  was  by 


CEDAR   CREEK  339 

the  October  nights  and  frosts.  The  brave  fellows  did 
not  hesitate  for  a  moment.  Reaching  the  eastern  bank 
drenched  and  cold,  they  were  ready  for  the  "double 
quick,"  which  warmed  them  up  and  brought  them 
speedily  to  the  left  flank  of  Sheridan's  sleeping  army. 
From  that  eyry  on  the  mountain- top  I  had  selected  a 
country  road  which  led  to  the  flank,  and  had  located  a 
white  farm-house  which  stood  on  this  road  at  a  point 
precisely  opposite  the  end  of  Sheridan's  intrenchments. 
I  knew,  therefore,  that  when  the  head  of  my  column 
reached  that  house  we  would  be  on  the  Union  flank  and 
slightly  in  the  rear.  No  time,  therefore,  was  lost  in 
scouting  or  in  locating  lines.  There  was  no  need  for 
either.  There  wTas  not  a  moment's  delay.  Nothing  was 
needed  except  to  close  up,  front  face,  and  forward.  This 
was  accomplished  by  Evans  with  remarkable  celerity. 
His  splendid  division,  with  Ramseur's  farther  to  the 
right  and  Pegram's  in  support,  rushed  upon  the  unpre 
pared  and  unsuspecting  Federals,  great  numbers  of  whom 
were  still  asleep  in  their  tents.  Even  those  who  had 
been  aroused  by  Payne's  sudden  irruption  in  the  rear, 
and  had  sprung  to  the  defence  of  the  breastworks,  were 
thrown  into  the  wildest  confusion  and  terror  by  Ker- 
shaw's  simultaneous  assault  in  front.  That  admirable 
officer  had  more  than  filled  his  part  in  this  game  of  battle. 
He  had  not  only  demonstrated  against  the  centre  while 
Evans  was  assailing  flank  and  rear,  but  his  high-spirited 
South  Carolinians,  like  a  resistless  sea  driven  by  the 
tempest,  poured  a  steady  stream  of  gray-jackets  over 
the  works  and  into  the  Union  camp.  The  intrepid 
Wharton  was  soon  across  with  his  superb  division, 
adding  momentum  to  the  jubilant  Confederate  host. 

The  surprise  was  complete.  The  victory  was  won  in 
a  space  of  time  inconceivably  short,  and  with  a  loss  to 
the  Confederates  incredibly  small.  Sheridan's  brave 
men  had  lain  down  in  their  tents  on  the  preceding  night 


340   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

feeling  absolutely  protected  by  his  intrenchments  and 
his  faithful  riflemen  who  stood  on  guard.  They  were 
startled  in  their  dreams  and  aroused  from  their  slumbers 
by  the  rolls  of  musketry  in  nearly  every  direction  around 
them,  and  terrified  by  the  whizzing  of  Minie  balls  through 
their  tents  and  the  yelling  of  exultant  foemen  in  their 
very  midst.  They  sprang  from  their  beds  to  find  Con 
federate  bayonets  at  their  breasts.  Large  numbers  were 
captured.  Many  hundreds  were  shot  down  as  they 
attempted  to  escape.  Two  entire  corps,  the  Eighth  and 
Nineteenth,  constituting  more  than  two  thirds  of  Sher 
idan's  army,  broke  and  fled,  leaving  the  ground  covered 
with  arms,  accoutrements,  knapsacks,  and  the  dead  bodies 
of  their  comrades.  Across  the  open  fields  they  swarmed 
in  utter  disorganization,  heedless  of  their  officers'  com 
mands—heedless  of  all  things  save  getting  to  the  rear. 
There  was  nothing  else  for  them  to  do ;  for  Sheridan's 
magnificent  cavalry  was  in  full  retreat  before  Rosser's 
bold  troopers,  who  were  in  position  to  sweep  down  upon 
the  other  Union  flank  and  rear. 

At  little  after  sunrise  we  had  captured  nearly  all  of 
the  Union  artillery;  we  had  scattered  in  veriest  rout 
two  thirds  of  the  Union  army ;  while  less  than  one  third 
of  the  Confederate  forces  had  been  under  fire,  and  that 
third  intact  and  jubilant.  Only  the  Sixth  Corps  of  Sher 
idan's  entire  force  held  its  ground.  It  was  on  the  right 
rear  and  had  been  held  in  reserve.  It  stood  like  a  granite 
breakwater,  built  to  beat  back  the  oncoming  flood ;  but 
it  was  also  doomed  unless  some  marvellous  intervention 
should  check  the  Confederate  concentration  which  was 
forming  against  it.  That  intervention  did  occur,  as  will 
be  seen;  and  it  was  a  truly  marvellous  intervention, 
because  it  came  from  the  Confederate  commander  him 
self.  Sheridan's  Sixth  Corps  was  so  situated  after  the 
other  corps  were  dispersed  that  nothing  could  have  saved 
it  if  the  arrangement  for  its  destruction  had  been  car- 


CEDAK  CREEK  341 

ried  out.  It  was  at  that  hour  largely  outnumbered,  and 
I  had  directed  every  Confederate  command  then  subject 
to  my  orders  to  assail  it  in  front  and  upon  both  flanks 
simultaneously.  At  the  same  time  I  had  directed  the 
brilliant  chief  of  artillery,  Colonel  Thomas  H.  Carter  of 
Virginia,  who  had  no  superior  in  ability  and  fighting 
qualities  in  that  arm  of  the  service  in  either  army,  to 
gallop  along  the  broad  highway  with  all  his  batteries 
and  with  every  piece  of  captured  artillery  available, 
and  to  pour  an  incessant  stream  of  shot  and  shell  upon 
this  solitary  remaining  corps,  explaining  to  him  at  the 
same  time  the  movements  I  had  ordered  the  infantry  to 
make.  As  Colonel  Carter  surveyed  the  position  of 
Sheridan's  Sixth  Corps  (it  could  not  have  been  better 
placed  for  our  purposes),  he  exclaimed :  "  General,  you 
will  need  no  infantry.  With  enfilade  fire  from  my  bat 
teries  I  will  destroy  that  corps  in  twenty  minutes." 

At  this  moment  General  Early  came  upon  the  field, 
and  said : 

"Well,  Gordon,  this  is  glory  enough  for  one  day. 
This  is  the  19th.  Precisely  one  month  ago  to-day  we 
were  going  in  the  opposite  direction." 

His  allusion  was  to  our  flight  from  Winchester  on  the 
19th  of  September.  I  replied :  "It  is  very  well  so  far, 
general ;  but  we  have  one  more  blow  to  strike,  and  then 
there  will  not  be  left  an  organized  company  of  infantry 
in  Sheridan's  army." 

I  pointed  to  the  Sixth  Corps  and  explained  the  move 
ments  I  had  ordered,  which  I  felt  sure  would  compass 
the  capture  of  that  corps— certainly  its  destruction. 
When  I  had  finished,  he  said :  "  No  use  in  that ;  they  will 
all  go  directly." 

"  That  is  the  Sixth  Corps,  general.  It  will  not  go 
unless  we  drive  it  from  the  field." 

"  Yes,  it  will  go  too,  directly." 

My  heart  went  into  my  boots.     Visions  of  the  fatal 


342   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR 

halt  on  the  first  day  at  Gettysburg,  and  of  the  whole 
day's  hesitation  to  permit  an  assault  on  Grant's  exposed 
flank  on  the  6th  of  May  in  the  Wilderness,  rose  before 
me.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  fatal  halting,  the 
hesitation,  the  spasmodic  firing,  and  the  isolated  move 
ments  in  the  face  of  the  sullen,  slow,  and  orderly  retreat 
of  this  superb  Federal  corps,  lost  us  the  great  opportun 
ity,  and  converted  the  brilliant  victory  of  the  morning 
into  disastrous  defeat  in  the  evening. 

Congress  thanked  General  Sheridan  and  his  men  for 
having  "averted  a  great  disaster."  By  order  of  the 
President,  he  was  made  a  major-general,  because,  as 
stated  in  the  order,  "  under  the  blessing  of  Providence 
his  routed  army  was  reorganized  and  a  great  national 
disaster  averted,"  etc.  Medical  Director  Ghiselin,  in  his 
official  report,  says :  "  At  dawn  on  the  19th  of  October 
the  enemy  attacked  and  turned  the  left  flank  of  the 
army.  Their  attack  was  so  sudden  and  unexpected  that 
our  troops  were  thrown  into  confusion,  and  it  was  not 
until  we  had  fallen  back  four  miles  that  another  line  of 
battle  was  established  and  confidence  restored."  In  the 
itinerary  of  the  Second  Brigade  (p.  74),  dated  October  19, 
are  these  words :  "  For  a  time  the  foe  was  held  in  check, 
but  soon  they  had  completely  routed  the  Eighth  and 
Nineteenth  corps,  and  the  Sixth  Corps  fell  back."  Gen 
eral  Sheridan  says  in  his  report  that  he  met  these  flying 
troops  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  within  half  a  mile  of 
Winchester.  "  Until  the  middle  of  the  day  the  game 
was  completely  in  the  enemy's  hands,"  is  the  Federal  rec 
ord  of  another  itinerary  (p.  82,  Vol.  XLIII).  Impartial 
history  must  declare  that,  under  these  conditions,  if  one 
more  heavy  blow  had  been  delivered  with  unhesitating 
energy,  with  Jacksonian  confidence  and  vigor,  and  with 
the  combined  power  of  every  heavy  gun  and  every 
exultant  soldier  of  Early's  army,  the  battle  would  have 
ended  in  one  of  the  most  complete  and  inexpensive  vie- 


CEDAR  GREEK  343 

tories  ever  won  in  war.  The  now  established  facts 
warrant  this  assertion.  Although  Sheridan's  army  at 
the  beginning  of  the  battle  outnumbered  Early's,  ac 
cording  to  official  reports,  nearly  or  quite  three  to  one,1 
yet  the  complete  surprise  of  our  sudden  attack  at  dawn 
upon  flank  and  rear  had  placed  the  brave  men  in  blue 
at  such  disadvantage  that  more  than  two  thirds  of  them 
were  compelled  to  fly  or  be  captured.  Thus  before  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  Confederate  infantry  out 
numbered  the  organized  Federal  forces  in  our  front. 
At  this  hour  the  one  army  was  aroused  and  electrified 
by  victory,  while  all  that  remained  of  the  other  was 
necessarily  dismayed  by  the  most  adverse  conditions, 
especially  by  the  panic  that  had  seized  and  shaken  to 
pieces  the  Eighth  and  Nineteenth  corps. 

The  brave  and  steady  Sixth  Corps  could  not  possibly 
have  escaped  had  the  proposed  concentration  upon  it 

1  General  Early's  army  was  scarcely  12,000  strong.  On  October  25 
General  Sheridan  telegraphed  General  Grant  from  Cedar  Creek :  "  We  are 
now  reduced  to  effective  force  of  not  over  22,000  infantry."  Add  to  this  his 
heavy  force  of  cavalry,  his  artillery,  his  killed  and  wounded  at  Cedar 
Creek,  and  the  1300  prisoners,  and  it  becomes  evident  that  his  army  at  the 
beginning  of  the  battle  of  the  19th  was  not  less  than  35,000. 

The  official  returns  regarding  the  Valley  campaign  are  very  meagre,  and 
the  computation  of  the  strength  of  the  respective  armies  made  by  writers 
on  the  war  are  indefinite  and  unsatisfactory. 

Sheridan's  official  return  of  September  10,  1864,  shows  his  effective 
force  as  45,487  (Official  Records,  XLIII,  Part  I,  p.  61);  "Battles  and 
Leaders  of  the  Civil  War"  states  that  of  these  about  43,000  were  available 
for  active  field  duty. 

Estimates  of  Early's  army  at  Winchester : 

"  Battles  and  Leaders "  states  that  monthly  returns  for  August  31 
(exclusive  of  Kershaw's  troops,  who  were  not  engaged)  show  an  effective 
force  of  infantry  and  artillery  of  10,646.  To  this  are  added  1200  cavalry 
under  Fitz  Lee  and  1700  under  Lomax,  making  a  total  of  13,288.  The 
figures  given  for  cavalry  under  Lee  and  Lomax  were  given  the  editors  by 
General  Early  in  a  letter,  so  they  may  not  be  disputed.  Early  claims, 
however,  that  the  figures  for  infantry  and  artillery  are  placed  too  high  — 
that  between  August  31  and  September  19  his  losses  were  considerable, 
and  that  at  Winchester  he  had  only  8500  muskets. 


344  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

and  around  it  been  permitted.  Within  twenty  minutes 
that  isolated  command  would  have  had  Carter's  thirty 
or  forty  guns  hurling  their  whizzing  shells  and  solid 
shot,  like  so  many  shivering  lightning-bolts,  through  its 
entire  lines.  Within  thirty  minutes  the  yelling  Confed 
erate  infantry  would  have  been  rushing  resistlessly  upon 
its  flanks  and  front  and  rear.  No  troops  on  earth  could 
have  withstood  such  unprecedented  disadvantages,  such 
a  combination  of  death-dealing  agencies. 

But  the  concentration  was  stopped ;  the  blow  was  not 
delivered.  We  halted,  we  hesitated,  we  dallied,  firing  a 
few  shots  here,  attacking  with  a  brigade  or  a  division 
there,  and  before  such  feeble  assaults  the  superb  Union 
corps  retired  at  intervals  and  by  short  stages.  We 
waited — for  what?  It  is  claimed  by  the  Confederate 
commander  that  we  were  threatened  with  cavalry  on 
our  right,  whereas  General  L.  L.  Lomax  of  the  Confed 
erate  cavalry,  who  combined  the  high  qualities  of  great 
courage  and  wise  caution,  was  on  that  flank  and  had 
already  advanced  to  a  point  within  a  few  miles  of 
Winchester.  It  is  also  true  that  the  Federal  reports 
show  that  Union  cavalry  was  sent  to  that  flank  to  pre 
vent  our  turning  Sheridan's  left,  and  was  sent  back  to 
Sheridan's  right  when  it  was  discovered  that  there  was 
no  danger  of  serious  assault  by  Early's  army.  We 
waited  —  waited  for  weary  hours ;  waited  till  those  stir 
ring,  driving,  and  able  Federal  leaders,  Wright,  Crook, 
and  Getty,  could  gather  again  their  shattered  fragments ; 
waited  till  the  routed  men  in  blue  found  that  no  foe  was 
pursuing  them  and  until  they  had  time  to  recover  their 
normal  composure  and  courage ;  waited  till  Confederate 
officers  lost  hope  and  the  fires  had  gone  out  in  the 
hearts  of  the  privates,  who  for  hours  had  been  asking, 
"What  is  the  matter?  Why  don't  we  go  forward?"— 
waited  for  Sheridan  to  make  his  ride,  rally  and  bring 
back  his  routed  army,  mass  it  upon  our  left  flank  in 


CEDAR  CREEK  345 

broad  daylight  and  assail  us,  and  thus  rout  our  whole 
army  just  as,  eight  hours  before,  we  had  under  cover  of 
darkness  massed  upon  and  assailed  his  left  flank  and 
routed  two  thirds  of  his  army. 

General  Sheridan  had  not  slept  on  the  field  the  pre 
ceding  night.  He  was  absent  —  had  gone,  I  believe,  to 
Washington ;  and  if  Payne  had  succeeded  in  capturing 
the  commanding  Union  general,  as  he  came  near  doing, 
he  would  have  discovered  that  he  had  not  secured  the 
man  he  wanted.  Sheridan,  however,  was  on  his  way 
back  to  the  front.  At  Winchester  he  heard  the  distant 
thunder  as  it  rolled  down  the  Valley  from  Cedar  Creek. 
The  western  wind  brought  to  his  ears  what  Patrick 
Henry  called  "  the  clash  of  resounding  arms  " ;  and  he 
started  in  the  direction  from  which  came  the  roar  of  the 
storm.  As  he  rode  up  the  historic  pike  he  met  his 
broken  and  scattered  corps,  flying  in  dismay  from  an 
army  which  was  not  pursuing  them,  running  pell-mell 
to  the  rear  from  the  same  foe  which,  just  one  month 
before,  they  had  pursued  in  the  opposite  direction  and 
over  the  same  ground. 

The  Federal  General  Wright,  to  whom  tardy  justice 
—if  justice  at  all— has  been  done  (and  who  suffered  the 
same  defeat  from  our  flank  movement  which  would  have 
overtaken  General  Sheridan  had  he  been  there),  had 
done  all  that  any  officer  could  do  to  stern  the  resistless 
Confederate  rush  in  the  early  morning.  This  gallant 
Union  officer  had  already  begun  to  rally  his  scattered 
forces  to  the  support  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  before  whose 
front  we  had  strangely  dallied  for  six  precious  hours. 
In  paying  this  altogether  insufficient  tribute  to  General 
Wright,  whose  valor  and  skill  had  been  manifested  in 
many  battles,  in  no  sense  do  I  disparage  the  achievement 
of  Philip  Sheridan.  He  deserved  much,  and  richly  did 
his  grateful  countrymen  reward  him.  His  energy  and 
dash  were  equal  to  the  demands  upon  them.  His  was  a 


346  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

clear  case  of  veni,  vidi,  vici.  He  halted  and  rallied  and 
enthused  his  panic-stricken  men.  While  we  waited  he 
reorganized  his  dismembered  regiments,  brigades,  and 
divisions,  and  turned  them  back  toward  the  lines  from 
which  they  had  fled  in  veriest  panic. 

His  movements  were  seen  by  the  clear  eyes  of  the 
vigilant  Confederate  Signal  Corps  from  their  lofty  perch 
on  Massanutten  Mountain.  Their  flags  at  once  waved 
left  and  right  and  front,  signalling  to  us  the  news,  "  The 
Yankees  are  halting  and  reforming."  Next,  "  They  are 
moving  back,  some  on  the  main  pike  and  some  on  other 
roads."  Next,  "  The  enemy's  cavalry  has  checked  Ros- 
ser's  pursuit  and  assumed  the  offensive." 

Rosser  was  greatly  outnumbered  by  Sheridan's  cav 
alry,  which,  supported  as  it  now  was  by  two  corps  of 
rallied  infantry,  drove,  in  turn,  these  sturdy  Confederate 
horsemen  to  the  rear.  They  contested,  however,  every 
foot  of  advance,  and  joined  our  Signal  Corps  in  sending 
information  of  the  heavy  column  approaching. 

The  flag  signals  from  the  mountain  and  the  messages 
from  Rosser  became  more  intense  in  their  warning  and 
more  frequent  as  the  hours  passed.  Sheridan's  marchers 
were  coming  closer  and  massing  in  heavy  column  on  the 
left,  while  his  cavalry  were  gathering  on  our  flank  and 
rear ;  but  the  commander  of  the  Confederate  forces  evi 
dently  did  not  share  in  the  apprehension  manifested  by 
the  warning  signals  as  to  the  danger  which  immediately 
threatened  us. 

When  the  battle  began  in  the  morning  my  command 
was  on  the  Confederate  right;  but  at  the  end  of  the 
morning's  fight,  when  the  fatal  halt  was  called,  my  imme 
diate  division  was  on  the  Confederate  left.  General 
Early  in  his  report,  now  published,  states  that  I  had 
gotten  on  the  left  with  my  division.  He  did  not  seem  to 
understand  how  we  reached  the  left,  when  we  were  on 
the  right  at  the  opening  of  the  morning  fight.  Had 


CEDAR   CREEK  347 

General  Early  been  there  when  our  ringing  rifles  were 
sounding  a  reveille  to  Sheridan's  sleeping  braves,  had  he 
seen  Evans  and  Kershaw  as  I  saw  them,  sweeping  with 
the  scattering  fury  of  a  whirlwind  down  the  Union  in- 
trenchments,  and  following  the  flying  Federals  far  be 
yond  our  extreme  left,  he  would  have  known  exactly 
how  we  got  there.  From  the  Confederate  right  to  the 
Confederate  left  we  had  passed  in  swift  pursuit  of  the 
routed  enemy.  Across  the  whole  length  of  the  Confed 
erate  front  these  divisions  had  swept,  trying  to  catch 
Sheridan's  panic-stricken  men,  and  they  did  catch  a 
great  many  of  them. 

When  the  long  hours  of  dallying  with  the  Sixth  [Union] 
Corps  had  passed,  and  our  afternoon  alignment  was 
made,  there  was  a  long  gap,  with  scarcely  a  vedette  to 
guard  it  between  my  right  and  the  main  Confederate 
line.  The  flapping  flags  from  the  mountain  and  the 
messages  from  Rosser  were  burdened  with  warnings  that 
the  rallied  Union  infantry  and  heavy  bodies  of  cavalry 
were  already  in  front  of  the  gap  and  threatening  both 
flank  and  rear.  With  that  fearful  gap  in  the  line,  and 
the  appalling  conditions  which  our  long  delay  had  in 
vited,  every  Confederate  commander  of  our  loft  wing 
foresaw  the  crash  which  speedily  came.  One  after  an 
other  of  my  staff  was  directed  to  ride  with  all  speed  to 
General  Early  and  apprise  him  of  the  hazardous  situa 
tion.  Receiving  no  satisfactory  answer,  I  myself  finally 
rode  to  headquarters  to  urge  that  he  reenforce  the  left 
and  fill  the  gap,  which  would  prove  a  veritable  death 
trap  if  left  open  many  minutes  longer ;  or  else  that  he 
concentrate  his  entire  force  for  desperate  defence  or  im 
mediate  withdrawal.  He  instructed  me  to  stretch  out 
the  already  weak  lines  and  take  a  battery  of  guns  to  the 
left.  I  rode  back  at  a  furious  gallop  to  execute  these 
most  unpromising  movements.  It  was  too  late.  The 
last  chance  had  passed  of  saving  the  army  from  the 


348  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAE 

doom  which  had  been  threatened  for  hours.  Major 
Kirkpatrick  had  started  with  his  guns,  rushing  across 
the  plain  to  the  crumbling  Confederate  lines  like  fire- 
engines  tearing  through  streets  in  the  vain  effort  to  save 
a  building  already  wrapped  in  flames  and  tumbling  to 
the  ground.  I  reached  my  command  only  in  time  to  find 
the  unresisted  columns  of  Sheridan  rushing  through  this 
gap,  and,  worse  still,  to  find  Clement  A.  Evans,  whom  I 
left  in  command,  almost  completely  surrounded  by  liter 
ally  overwhelming  numbers ;  but  he  was  handling  the 
men  with  great  skill,  and  fighting  in  almost  every  direc 
tion  with  characteristic  coolness.  It  required  counter 
charges  of  the  most  daring  character  to  prevent  the 
utter  destruction  of  the  command  and  effect  its  with 
drawal.  At  the  same  instant  additional  Union  forces, 
which  had  penetrated  through  the  vacant  space,  were 
assailing  our  main  line  on  the  flank  and  rolling  it  up 
like  a  scroll.  Regiment  after  regiment,  brigade  after 
brigade,  in  rapid  succession  was  crushed,  and,  like  hard 
clods  of  clay  under  a  pelting  rain,  the  superb  commands 
crumbled  to  pieces.  The  sun  was  sinking,  but  the  spas 
modic  battle  still  raged.  Wrapped  in  clouds  of  smoke  and 
gathering  darkness,  the  overpowered  Confederates  stub 
bornly  yielded  before  the  advancing  Federals. 

There  was  no  yelling  on  the  one  side,  nor  huzzahs 
on  the  other.  The  gleaming  blazes  from  hot  muzzles 
made  the  murky  twilight  lurid.  The  line  of  light  from 
Confederate  guns  grew  shorter  and  resistance  fainter. 
The  steady  roll  of  musketry,  punctuated  now  and  then 
by  peals  of  thunder  from  retreating  or  advancing  bat 
teries,  suddenly  ceased ;  and  resistance  ended  as  the  last 
organized  regiment  of  Early's  literally  overwhelmed 
army  broke  and  fled  in  the  darkness.  As  the  tumult  of 
battle  died  away,  there  came  from  the  north  side  of  the 
plain  a  dull,  heavy  swelling  sound  like  the  roaring  of  a 
distant  cyclone,  the  omen  of  additional  disaster.  It  was 


CEDAR  CREEK  349 

unmistakable^  Sheridan's  horsemen  were  riding  furi 
ously  across  the  open  fields  of  grass  to  intercept  the 
Confederates  before  they  crossed  Cedar  Creek.  Many 
were  cut  off  and  captured.  As  the  sullen  roar  from 
horses'  hoofs  beating  the  soft  turf  of  the  plain  told  of  the 
near  approach  of  the  cavalry,  all  effort  at  orderly  retreat 
was  abandoned.  The  only  possibility  of  saving  the  rear 
regiments  was  in  unrestrained  flight— every  man  for 
himself.  Mounted  officers  gathered  here  and  there 
squads  of  brave  men  who  poured  volleys  into  the  ad 
vancing  lines  of  blue ;  but  it  was  too  late  to  make  effec 
tive  resistance. 

In  the  dim  starlight,  after  crossing  the  creek,  I  gath 
ered  around  me  a  small  force  representing  nearly  every 
command  in  Early's  army,  intending  to  check,  if  possible, 
the  further  pursuit,  or  at  least  to  delay  it  long  enough 
to  enable  the  shattered  and  rapidly  retreating  fragments 
to  escape.  The  brave  fellows  responded  to  my  call  and 
formed  a  line  across  the  pike.  The  effort  was  utterly 
fruitless,  however,  and  resulted  only  in  hair-breadth 
escapes  and  unexampled  experiences. 

It  has  never  been  settled  whether,  in  escaping  from  the 
British  dragoons  under  Tryon,  General  Israel  Putnam 
rode  or  rolled  or  slid  down  the  precipice  at  Horse  Neck 
in  1779 ;  but  whichever  method  of  escape  he  adopted,  I 
can  "go  him  two  better,"  as  the  sportsmen  say,  for  I  did 
all  three  at  Cedar  Creek,  eighty-five  years  later,  in  escap 
ing  from  American  dragoons  under  Philip  Sheridan.  At 
the  point  where  I  attempted  to  make  a  stand  at  night, 
the  pike  ran  immediately  on  the  edge  of  one  of  those 
abrupt  and  rugged  limestone  cliffs  down  which  it  was 
supposed  not  even  a  rabbit  could  plunge  without  break 
ing  his  neck ;  and  I  proved  it  to  be  nearly  true.  One 
end  of  my  short  line  of  gray-jackets  rested  on  the  pike 
at  this  forbidding  precipice.  I  had  scarcely  gotten  my 
men  in  position  when  I  discovered  that  Sheridan's  dra- 


350  REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAR 

goons  had  crossed  the  creek  higher  up,  and  that  I  was 
surrounded  by  them  on  three  sides,  while  on  the 
other  was  this  breakneck  escarpment.  These  enter 
prising  horsemen  in  search  of  their  game  had  located  my 
little  band,  and  at  the  sound  of  the  bugle  they  came  in 
headlong  charge.  Only  one  volley  from  my  men  and  the 
Federal  cavalry  were  upon  them.  Realizing  that  our 
capture  was  imminent,  I  shouted  to  my  men  to  escape, 
if  possible,  in  the  darkness.  One  minute  more  and  I 
should  have  had  a  Yankee  carbine  at  my  head,  inviting 
my  surrender.  The  alternatives  were  the  precipice  or 
Yankee  prison.  There  was  no  time  to  debate  the  ques 
tion,  not  a  moment.  Wheeling  my  horse  to  the  dismal 
brink,  I  drove  my  spurs  into  his  flanks,  and  he  plunged 
downward  and  tumbled  headlong  in  one  direction,  send 
ing  me  in  another.  How  I  reached  the  bottom  of  that 
abyss  I  shall  never  know ;  for  I  was  rendered  temporarily 
unconscious.  Strangely  enough,  I  was  only  stunned, 
and  in  no  way  seriously  hurt.  My  horse,  too,  though 
bruised,  was  not  disabled.  For  a  moment  I  thought 
he  was  dead,  for  he  lay  motionless  and  prone  at  full 
length.  However,  he  promptly  responded  to  my  call 
and  rose  to  his  feet ;  and  although  the  bare  places  on  his 
head  and  hips  showed  that  he  had  been  hurt,  he  was 
ready  without  a  groan  to  bear  me  again  in  any  direction 
I  might  wish  to  go.  The  question  was,  which  way  to  go. 
I  was  alone  in  that  dark  wooded  glen— that  is,  my  faith 
ful  horse  was  the  only  comrade  and  friend  near  enough 
to  aid  me.  I  was  safe  enough  from  discovery,  although 
so  near  the  pike  that  the  rumble  of  wheels  and  even  the 
orders  of  the  Union  officers  were  at  times  quite  audible. 
It  was,  perhaps,  an  hour  or  more  after  nightfall,  and  yet 
the  vanguard  of  Sheridan's  army  had  not  halted.  Con 
siderable  numbers  of  them  were  now  between  me  and  the 
retreating  Confederates.  The  greater  part  of  the  country 
on  each  side  of  the  pike,  however,  was  open,  and  I  was 


CEDAR   GREEK  351 

fairly  familiar  with  it  all.  There  was  no  serious  diffi 
culty,  therefore,  in  passing  around  the  Union  forces,  who 
soon  went  into  camp  for  the  night.  Lonely,  thoughtful, 
and  sad,— sadder  and  more  thoughtful,  if  possible,  on  this 
nineteenth  night  of  October  than  on  the  corresponding 
night  of  the  previous  month  at  Winchester,— I  rode 
through  open  fields,  now  and  then  finding  squads  of 
Confederates  avoiding  the  pike  to  escape  capture,  and 
occasionally  a  solitary  soldier  as  lonely,  if  not  as  sad  and 
thoughtful,  as  I. 

Thus  ended  the  day  which  had  witnessed  a  most  bril 
liant  victory  converted  into  one  of  the  most  complete 
and  ruinous  routs  of  the  entire  war.  It  makes  one  dizzy 
to  think  of  such  a  headlong  descent  from  the  Elysium  of 
triumph  to  the  Erebus  of  complete  collapse. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CHEEK 

Analysis  of  the  great  mistake—  Marshalling  of  testimony—  Documen 
tary  proof  of  the  error—  Early's  u  glory  enough  for  one  day"  theory 
—  What  eye-witnesses  say—  The  defence  of  the  Confederate  soldier— 
A  complete  vindication. 


sun  in  his  circuit  shines  on  few  lovelier  land- 
scapes  than  that  of  Cedar  Creek  in  the  Valley  of 
Virginia,  which  was  the  wrestling-ground  of  the  two 
armies  on  October  19,  1864;  and  no  day  in  the  great 
war's  calendar,  nor  in  the  chronicles  of  any  other  war, 
so  far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  was  filled  with  such 
great  surprises  —  so  much  of  the  unexpected  to  both 
armies.  Other  days  during  our  war  witnessed  a  brilliant 
triumph  or  a  crushing  defeat  for  the  one  army  or  the 
other  ;  but  no  other  single  day  saw  each  of  the  contend 
ing  armies  victorious  and  vanquished  on  the  same  field 
and  between  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  same  sun. 
This  nineteenth  day  of  October,  therefore,  is,  I  believe, 
the  most  unique  day  in  the  annals  of  war.  It  was  Derby 
day  for  fleet-footed  racers  on  both  sides  ;  and  the  com 
bined  experiences  of  the  two  combatants  during  this 
single  day  constitute  the  very  climax  of  battle-born  an 
titheses. 

Thomas  Gr.  Jones,  since  governor  of  Alabama  and  now 
judge  of  the  United  States  Court,  was  then  an  aide  on 
my  staff,  and  sat  on  his  horse  at  my  side  when  General 

352 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  353 

Early  announced  that  we  had  had  "  glory  enough  for  one 
day."  Boy  soldier  as  he  was  then,  he  felt  and  expressed 
serious  forebodings  of  the  disaster  which  was  to  follow 
in  the  wake  of  our  great  victory. 

It  was  the  anniversary  of  Yorktown  and  of  the  sur 
render  of  Cornwallis  to  "Washington,  which  virtually 
ended  the  struggle  of  our  fathers  for  liberty.  After 
General  Early  consented  to  adopt  the  plan  which  had 
been  submitted  and  urged,  members  of  my  staff  and 
others,  reposing  implicit  faith  in  the  fulfilment  of  my 
predictions  of  a  crushing  defeat  to  Sheridan's  army, 
confidently  anticipated  that  the  next  morning  —  Octo 
ber  19,  1864  —  would  witness  for  the  Confederates,  who 
were  fighting  for  Southern  independence,  a  victory 
almost  as  signal  as  that  won  October  19,  1781,  by  the 
Rebels  of  the  Revolution,  who  were  fighting  for  Ameri 
can  independence.  It  is  true  that  the  conditions  sur 
rounding  the  Confederate  cause  in  the  autumn  of  1864 
were  far  more  desperate  than  those  around  the  American 
Revolutionists  in  the  autumn  of  1781.  There  were,  how 
ever,  in  our  calculations,  elements  which  still  inspired 
hope.  If  General  Sheridan's  army  could  be  crushed  and 
large  numbers  captured,  if  it  could  be  even  disorganized 
and  dispersed,  new  life  and  vigor  would  be  given  to  the 
still  defiant  Confederacy.  If  the  victory  of  the  coming 
morning,  which  seemed  assured,  should  be  followed  by 
incessant  blows  and  pressing  pursuit,  it  would  open  the 
way  to  Washington,  expose  Northern  States  to  imme 
diate  invasion,  magnify  to  Northern  apprehension  the 
numbers  and  effectiveness  of  Early's  army,  compel  Gen 
eral  Grant  to  send  a  larger  force  than  Sheridan's  to  meet 
us,  enable  General  Lee  at  Petersburg  to  assume  the 
offensive  and  possibly  arouse  a  strong  peace  sentiment 
among  the  Northern  masses.  The  complete  surprise  of 
the  Union  army,  and  the  resistless  Confederate  charges 
at  dawn  in  flank,  front,  and  rear,  vindicated  the  confident 


354    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

predictious  of  victory.  The  disastrous  Confederate  de 
feat  in  the  evening  made  clear  the  mistake  of  hesitating 
and  halting  which  were  a  fatal  abandonment  of  an 
essential  part  of  the  plan. 

The  story  is  short  and  simple,  but  sombre  to  the  last 
degree.  To  briefly  recapitulate,  orders  from  headquarters 
put  an  end  in  the  early  morning  to  concentration  and 
energetic  pursuit,  and,  therefore,  to  all  hope  of  complet 
ing  the  great  victory  by  capturing  or  crushing  the  last 
intervening  line  in  blue  between  us  and  the  Potomac. 
General  Cullen  A.  Battle  of  Alabama  was  severely 
wounded  while  leading  his  men  with  characteristic  dash 
and  enthusiasm ;  but  his  brigade,  one  of  the  smallest, 
and  also  one  of  the  pluckiest,  charged  a  battery  sup 
ported  by  the  Sixth  Corps,— the  only  one  left,—  and  cap 
tured  in  open  field  six  additional  pieces  of  artillery.1 
What  would  have  been  the  inevitable  result  of  the  con 
centrated  enfilade  fire  from  all  of  Carter's  guns  tearing 
through  the  whole  length  of  that  line,  while  the  entire 
army  of  Confederate  infantry  assailed  it  in  front,  flank, 
and  rear  1 

History  (so  called)  does  not  always  give  a  true  diag 
nosis  of  the  cases  it  deals  with  and  attempts  to  analyze. 
It  will  be  a  long  time,  I  fear,  before  all  the  records  of  the 
great  fight  between  the  States  will  tell,  like  sworn  wit 
nesses  in  the  courts,  "the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth." 

I  am  writing  reminiscences;  but  if  they  are  to  be  of 
any  value  they  must  also  stand  the  test  applied  to  wit 
nesses  in  courts  of  justice.  The  unexpected  and  un 
explained  absence  of  my  official  report  of  Cedar  Creek 
from  the  list  of  those  published  with  General  Early's  in 
the  War  Records  makes  clear  my  duty  to  record  in  these 

1  An  old  memorandum  written  by  General  Battle  after  he  was  carried  to 
hospital  states  that  the  number  of  guns  captured  by  his  brigade  was  twelve 
instead  of  six. 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  355 

reminiscences  some  statements  which  appear  to  me  es 
sential  to  the  truth  of  history. 

Captain  Jed  Hotchkiss,  of  General  Early's  staff,  has 
fortunately  left  a  Journal  in  which  he  recorded  events  as 
they  occurred  day  by  day.  In  that  Journal,  which  has 
been  published  by  the  Government  among  official  papers 
in  the  records  of  the  "War  of  the  Rebellion"  (First  Se 
ries,  Vol.  XLIII,  Part  I,  pp.  567-588),  Captain  Hotchkiss 
made  at  the  time  this  memomrandum :  "  Saturday, 
October  29th.  ...  A  contention  between  Generals  Gor 
don  and  Early  about  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek,"  etc. 

There  were  a  number  of  strongly  controverted  points 
between  us ;  but  the  only  one  in  which  the  whole  country 
is  concerned,  involving  as  it  does  the  character  of 
Southern  soldiery,  the  only  one  which  I  feel  com 
pelled  to  notice  in  this  book,  is  the  question  as  to 
the  responsibility  for  the  disaster  at  Cedar  Creek  after 
the  signal  victory  had  been  won.  Two  reasons  have 
been  given  for  this  revulsion,  and  both  have  evoked  no 
little  discussion.  If  General  Sheridan  and  his  friends 
had  been  consulted,  they  doubtless  would  have  added  a 
third,  namely,  his  arrival  on  the  field.  This,  however,  was 
not  considered  by  General  Early  and  myself,  and  it  did 
not  disturb  the  harmony  of  our  counsels.  We  had 
widely  differing  explanations  for  the  disaster,  but  neither 
of  us  suggested  General  Sheridan's  arrival  as  the  cause. 
General  Early  insisted,  and  so  stated  in  his  now  pub 
lished  report,  that  the  "  bad  conduct "  of  his  own  men 
caused  the  astounding  disaster ;  while  I  was  convinced 
that  it  was  due  solely  to  the  unfortunate  halting  and 
delay  after  the  morning  victory.  I  insisted  then,  and 
still  insist,  that  our  men  deserved  only  unstinted  praise. 
I  believed  then,  and  I  believe  now,  that  neither  General 
Sheridan  nor  any  other  commander  could  have  pre 
vented  the  complete  destruction  of  his  infantry  if  in  the 
early  hours  of  the  morning  we  had  concentrated  our  fire 


356   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR 

and  assaults  upon  his  only  remaining  corps.  The  situa 
tion  was  this :  two  thirds  of  Sheridan's  army  had  been 
shivered  by  blows  delivered  in  flank  and  rear.  If,  there 
fore,  Early's  entire  army,  triumphant,  unhurt,  and  ex 
hilarated,  had  been  instantly  hurled  against  that  solitary 
corps  in  accordance  with  the  general  plan  of  the  battle, 
it  is  certain  that  there  would  not  have  been  left  in  it  an 
organized  company;  and  many  hours  before  General 
Sheridan  made  his  ride,  the  last  nucleus  around  which 
he  could  possibly  have  rallied  his  shattered  and  flying 
forces  would  have  been  destroyed. 

If  my  official  report  of  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek  had 
been  published  with  General  Early's,  it  would  perhaps 
not  be  necessary  for  me  to  speak  of  the  "  contention " 
mentioned  by  Captain  Hotchkiss  in  his  Journal,  which  I 
have  recently  seen  for  the  first  time.  Justice  to  others, 
however,  to  the  living  and  the  dead,  demands  that  I  now 
make  record  in  this  book  of  some  facts  connected  with 
that  "contention,"  and  that  I  send  to  posterity  this 
record  in  connection  with  his  report. 

Thousands  of  living  men  and  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  their  descendants,  and  of  the  descendants  of  those  who 
fell  heroically  fighting  under  the  Southern  flag,  have  a 
profound,  a  measureless  interest  in  the  final  settlement 
of  that  controverted  point  of  which  I  am  now  to  speak 
from  personal  knowledge,  and  from  the  testimony  of 
scores  of  witnesses  who  participated  in  the  battle  and 
whose  military  acumen  and  experience  give  special 
weight  to  their  words. 

It  is  due  to  General  Early  to  say  that  his  physical 
strength  was  not  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  as 
cend  Massanutten  Mountain  and  survey  the  field 
from  that  lofty  peak.  He  had  not,  therefore,  the 
opportunity  to  take  in  the  tremendous  possibilities 
which  that  view  revealed.  He  had  not  been  permitted 
to  stand  upon  that  summit  and  trace  with  his  own  eye 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  357 

the  inviting  lines  for  the  Confederate  night  march;  to 
see  for  himself,  in  the  conditions  immediately  before  him, 
the  sure  prophecy  of  Confederate  victory,  and  to  have 
his  brain  set  on  fire  by  clearly  perceiving  that  the 
movement,  if  adopted  and  executed  with  vigor  and 
pressed  to  the  end,  must  inevitably  result  in  bringing  to 
Sheridan's  army,  in  quick  succession,  complete  surprise, 
universal  dismay,  boundless  panic,  and  finally  rout, 
capture,  or  annihilation.  Again,  General  Early  was 
not  on  that  portion  of  the  field  which  was  struck  by  the 
Confederate  cyclone  at  dawn;  nor  did  he  witness  its 
destructive  sweep  through  Sheridan's  camps  and  along 
his  breastworks,  leaving  in  its  wide  track  not  a  Federal 
soldier  with  arms  in  his  hands.  Major  Hunter,  my 
chief  of  staff,  rode  back  to  meet  General  Early,  with 
instructions  to  give  him  my  compliments  and  inform 
him  that  two  thirds  of  Sheridan's  army  were  routed  and 
nearly  all  his  artillery  captured,  while  our  troops  had  suf 
fered  no  serious  loss.  The  Confederate  commander  was 
naturally  elated,  and  felt  that  we  had  had  "  glory  enough 
for  one  day."  He,  therefore,  halted.  The  pressing 
question  is,  Was  that  halt  fatal  ?  Was  it  responsible  for 
the  afternoon  disaster,  or  was  the  "  bad  conduct "  of  the 
men  responsible  1  This  question  was  the  cause  of  the 
"  contention  "  of  which  Captain  Hotchkiss  made  record, 
and  which,  in  view  of  the  absence  of  my  report  from 
the  published  records,  and  under  the  inexorable  demands 
of  duty  to  living  and  dead  comrades,  I  am  bound  to 
answer  in  perfect  fairness  but  also  with  truth  and 
candor. 

General  Sheridan,  in  his  official  report  of  Cedar  Creek,1 
speaking  of  the  "  heavy  turning  column  "  (my  command) 
which  crossed  the  river  at  Bowman's  Ford,  describes  the 
assault  as  "striking  Crook,  who  held  the  left  of  our 
line  in  flank  and  rear,  so  unexpectedly  and  forcibly  as 

i  "War  of  the  Rebellion,"  First  Series,  Vol.  XLIII,  Part,  I,  p.  52. 


358    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE  CIVIL  WAR 

to  drive  in  his  outposts,  invade  his  camp,  and  turn  his 
position.  .  .  .  This  was  followed  by  a  direct  attack 
upon  our  front  [this  was  Kershaw's  assault],  and  the 
result  was  that  the  whole  army  was  driven  back  in  con 
fusion  to  a  point  about  one  mile  and  a  half  north  of 
Middletown,  a  very  large  portion  of  the  infantry  not 
even  preserving  a  company  organization."  He  adds  that 
about  nine  o'clock,  "  on  reaching  Mill  Creek,  half  a  mile 
south  of  Winchester,  the  head  of  the  fugitives  appeared 
in  sight,  trains  and  men  coming  to  the  rear  with  appall 
ing  rapidity."  He  left  officers  to  do  what  they  could 
uin  stemming  the  torrent  of  fugitives."  This  frank 
statement  of  General  Sheridan  makes  plain  the  truth 
that  the  exultant  Confederates  were  halted  at  the  time 
when  the  "  whole  army  [Union]  had  been  driven  back  in 
confusion,"  when  there  was  not  left  in  a  large  portion  of 
Union  infantry  "  a  company  organization,"  and  when 
"  the  torrent  of  fugitives  "  had  gone  to  the  rear  with 
such  "  appalling  rapidity  "  as  to  have  reached  Mill  Creek, 
eight  or  ten  miles  away,  by  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
I  submit  that  I  might  rest  the  whole  of  my  "  contention  " 
on  these  remarkable  admissions  of  General  Sheridan  as 
to  the  condition  of  his  army  when  the  fatal  Confederate 
halt  was  ordered. 

General  Sheridan  also  states  that  the  attack  in  flank 
and  rear,  which  was  made  by  my  troops,  was  followed  by 
one  in  front.  This  latter  was  promptly  and  superbly 
made  by  Kershaw.  General  Sheridan's  statement  clearly 
shows  that  the  assault  of  my  command  preceded,  but  was 
promptly  followed  by,  Kershaw's.  Captain  Hotchkiss  of 
General  Early's  staff  records  in  his  Journal,  penned  at 
the  time,  precisely  the  same  facts  (Vol.  XLIII,  p.  581). 
These  Official  Records  from  both  sides  render  it  unneces 
sary  for  me  to  make  any  reply  whatever  to  General 
Early's  intimation  in  his  report  that  I  was  a  little  late  in 
making  my  attack  at  Cedar  Creek.  A  vast  array  of  tes- 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  359 

timony  (Federal  and  Confederate)  is  at  hand  showing 
conclusively  that  General  Early  was  mistaken  in  sup 
posing  that  my  command  was  late  on  that  October 
morning. 

Colonel  Thomas  H.  Carter,  General  Early's  chief  of 
artillery  on  this  field,  and  now  the  honored  proctor  of 
the  University  of  Virginia,  writes  me  from  the  univer 
sity  :  "  I  confirm  with  emphasis  your  opinion  that  Gen 
eral  Early  made  a  fatal  mistake  in  stopping  the  pursuit 
of  the  enemy,  with  the  Sixth  Corps  retiring  before 
artillery  alone  and  the  other  two  corps  in  full  and  dis 
organized  flight  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Captain 
Southall's  letter  will  show  plainly  my  views  as  expressed 
to  General  Early  in  his  presence." 

Captain  S.  Y.  Southall,  now  of  Charlottesville,  Virginia, 
in  the  letter  to  which  Colonel  Carter  refers,  in  speaking 
of  General  Early  at  the  moment  he  received  the  news  of 
the  morning  victory,  says:  "His  face  became  radiant 
with  joy,  and  in  his  gladness  he  exclaimed,  i  The  sun  of 
Middletowri!  The  sun  of  Middletown ! ' "  The  last  of 
Sheridan's  army  in  its  retreat  had  then  reached  the  bor 
ders  of  Middletown.  Captain  Southall  then  reminds 
Colonel  Carter  of  his  suggesting  to  General  Early  the 
propriety  of  advancing,  and  says:  "Your  suggestion 
looking  to  the  completion  of  our  victory  was  ignored. 
Things  remained  in  this  way  for  hours,  during  which 
time  Sheridan  returned."  Colonel  Carter,  in  his  own 
letter  on  that  point,  says:  "At  a  later  interview  with 
General  Early,  I  explained  that  the  troops  were  eager  to 
go  ahead,  and  I  had  been  questioned  all  along  the  line  to 
know  the  cause  of  the  delay.  ...  Of  course,  Sher 
idan,  finding  his  cavalry  corps  intact  and  equal  in  num 
ber  to  our  army,  and  the  Sixth  Corps  unbroken,  though 
demoralized,  was  right  to  assume  the  offensive,  and  his 
ride  on  the  black  horse  will  go  down  in  history  and 
romance  as  a  tribute  to  his  military  fame.  Nevertheless, 


360   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

if  we  had  done  our  proper  part  in  pursuit,  his  arrival 
would  have  accomplished  nothing.  Every  practical 
fighting  man  in  our  war  knows  that  troops  scattered  and 
panic-stricken  cannot  be  rallied  in  the  face  of  hot  and 
vigorous  pursuit." 

Major  E.  W.  Hunter,  who  was  all  day  actively  partici 
pating  in  the  battle,  speaking  of  the  destruction  of  two 
thirds  of  the  Union  army  by  that  flank  and  rear  attack, 
says  in  his  written  statement  of  facts :  "  Neither  the 
famous  Macedonian  phalanx,  nor  Cassar's  Tenth  Legion, 
nor  the  Old  Guard  of  Napoleon,  nor  Wellington's  hollow 
squares,  which  saved  him  at  Waterloo,  nor  any  possible 
organization  of  troops,  could  have  withstood  the  com 
bined  assault  of  infantry,  artillery,  and  cavalry  that  it- 
was  in  our  power  to  have  made  upon  the  Sixth  Corps  on 
that  eventful  morning  after  the  complete  rout  of  the 
Eighth  and  Nineteenth  Corps.  Why  was  not  that  con 
centrated  assault  made  ? " 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek  the  news 
papers  were  filled  with  descriptions  of  the  morning 
victory  and  evening  rout.  That  "  contention  "  between 
General  Early  and  myself  was  inaugurated  by  his  inti 
mation,  in  the  presence  of  other  officers,  that  I  had 
inspired  some  of  those  accounts.  Notwithstanding  my 
appreciation  of  General  Early's  high  qualities,  and  in 
spite  of  the  official  courtesy  due  him  as  my  superior 
officer  (which,  I  believe,  was  never  ignored),  I  could  not 
do  less  than  indignantly  resent  the  injustice  of  such  an 
intimation.  At  the  same  time,  my  sense  of  duty  to  the 
army  and  regard  for  truth  compelled  me  candidly  to 
say,  and  I  did  say,  that  the  facts  had  been  truly  stated 
as  to  our  unfortunate  halt  and  fatal  delay. 

General  Clement  A.  Evans,  whose  superb  record  as  a 
soldier  and  exalted  character  as  a  man  and  minister  oi 
the  gospel  entitle  any  statement  from  him  to  unques 
tioning  belief,  was  a  division  commander  in  the  moving 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAE  CREEK  361 

attack  which  swept  away  Sheridan's  two  corps.  Gen 
eral  Evans  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  Board  of  Pardons 
of  the  State  of  Georgia,  and,  learning  that  I  was  writ 
ing  of  Cedar  Creek,  sent  me  a  strong  letter,  from  which 
I  make  a  brief  quotation.  His  statements  fully  corrob 
orate  those  made  at  the  time  in  the  newspaper  reports. 
For  reasons  which  will  be  readily  understood,  I  omit 
from  the  quotation  the  words  used  by  General  Evans 
as  to  the  credit  for  the  morning  victory  and  the  respon 
sibility  for  the  evening  disaster,  and  give  only  this 
concluding  clause :  "  And  the  Cedar  Creek  disaster  was 
caused  by  the  halt  which  you  did  not  order  and  which  I 
know  you  opposed." 

General  Thomas  L.  Rosser,  who  commanded  the 
Confederate  cavalry  on  the  field,  says :  "  The  sun  never 
rose  on  a  more  glorious  victory  and  never  set  on  a  more 
inglorious  defeat.  Had  .  .  .  the  fight  continued  .  .  . 
as  it  was  so  gloriously  begun,  Sheridan's  ride  of  twenty 
miles  away  would  never  have  been  sung,"  etc. 

General  Gabriel  C.  Wharton,  now  of  Radford,  Vir 
ginia,  who  commanded  a  division  of  General  Early's 
army  at  Cedar  Creek,  speaking  of  some  movements  by 
our  troops  just  after  the  rout  of  Sheridan's  two  corps, 
says :  "  I  supposed  we  were  arranging  for  a  general 
movement  to  the  front,  and  expected  every  minute 
orders  to  advance ;  but  no  orders  came,  and  there  we 
stood  —  no  enemy  in  our  front  for  hours,  except  some 
troops  moving  about  in  the  woodland  on  a  hill  nearly  a 
mile  in  our  front."  He  adds :  "  I  have  never  been  able 
to  understand  why  General  Early  did  not  advance,  or 
why  he  remained  in  line  for  four  or  five  hours  after  the 
brilliant  victory  of  the  morning." 

Captain  Hotchkiss,  in  his  contribution  to  the  recently 
published  "  Confederate  Military  History "  (Vol.  Ill,  p. 
509),  after  paying  to  his  old  chief,  General  Early,  the 
compliments  which  he  richly  deserved  as  an  "able 


362   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

strategist,  most  skilful  commander,  and  one  of  the 
bravest  of  the  brave,"  nevertheless  characterizes  the 
fatal  halt  at  Cedar  Creek  as  "  this  inexcusable  delay." 

I  also  present  another  item  of  testimony,  which  was 
given  under  most  interesting  circumstances.  During 
the  winter  which  followed  this  battle  there  occurred,  in 
connection  with  this  Valley  campaign,  one  of  the  most 
thrilling  incidents  of  the  entire  war.  It  exhibited  as 
much  daring  and  dash  as  the  famous  scouting  expedition 
of  the  brave  Federal  squad  who  came  into  Georgia  and 
scouted  in  rear  of  our  army,  and  then,  seizing  an  engine 
on  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  fled  upon  it  back 
toward  Chattanooga  and  the  Union  lines.  The  daring 
adventure  of  which  I  now  speak  was,  however,  far  more 
successful  than  this  bold  scouting  in  Georgia.  While 
northern  Virginia  and  Maryland  were  in  the  icy  em 
brace  of  midwinter,  a  small  squad  of  plucky  Confed 
erates  from  Captain  McNeill's  Partisan  Rangers  rode  at 
night  into  Cumberland,  Maryland,  where  5000  armed 
men  of  the  Union  army  were  stationed.  These  auda 
cious  young  Confederates  eluded  the  Union  guards, 
located  the  headquarters  of  Major-Generals  Crook  and 
Kelley,  captured  them  in  their  beds,  and  brought  them, 
as  prisoners  of  war  mounted  on  their  own  horses,  safely 
into  Confederate  lines.  General  Crook  was  the  distin 
guished  commander  of  the  Union  troops  whose  flank 
and  rear  my  command  had  struck  at  dawn  on  Cedar 
Creek.  When  he  was  brought  to  headquarters  as  pris 
oner,  General  Early  interviewed  him  in  reference  to  that 
battle.  Captain  Hotchkiss  states  that  in  the  interview 
General  Crook  represented  the  Sixth  Corps,  on  the  morn 
ing  of  the  19th  of  October  at  Cedar  Creek,  as  almost  as 
"  badly  damaged  "  as  the  other  corps,  and  in  no  condition 
to  resist  attack.1 

It  will  not  surprise  the  thoughtful  student   of  this 

i  " Confederate  Military  History,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  538. 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CEEEK  363 

marvellous  battle  to  know  that  General  Early  himself 
realized  later  the  fatal  mistake  of  the  halt  at  Cedar 
Creek,  arid  gave  an  indicative  caution  to  his  faithful 
staff  officer,  who  was  leaving  with  a  sketch  of  Cedar 
Creek  for  General  Lee.  Captain  Hotchkiss  says :  "  Gen 
eral  Early  told  me  not  to  tell  General  Lee  that  we  ought 
to  have  advanced  in  the  morning  at  Middletown,  for, 
said  he,  'we  ought  to  have  done  so.'"  l 

Anything  more  on  this  point  would  be  superfluous. 
I  should  not  have  felt  it  necessary  to  produce  these 
proofs  as  to  the  responsibility  of  the  halting  and  delay 
but  for  the  fact  that  they  bear  directly  and  cogently 
upon  the  other  infinitely  more  important  inquiry,  "  Was 
the  'bad  conduct'  of  the  troops  wholly  or  partially,  directly 
or  remotely,  responsible  for  that  evening  disaster?" 
Posterity  may  not  trouble  itself  much  about  the  halting 
and  hesitation  at  Cedar  Creek ;  but  posterity— undoubt 
edly  Confederate  posterity— will  be  profoundly  interested 
in  this  inquiry :  "  Did  Confederate  officers  and  men 
abandon  their  posts  of  duty  and  danger  to  plunder  the 
captured  camps  and  thus  convert  one  of  the  most  brill 
iant  of  victories  into  a  most  disastrous  defeat  and  utter 
rout?" 

This  charge  so  directly,  so  vitally  concerns  the  repu 
tation,  the  honor,  the  character  of  Southern  soldiers  (it 
concerns  all  American  soldiers,  for  these  men  were 
Americans  of  purest  blood)  as  to  demand  the  most 
exhaustive  examination.  Let  the  fiercest  search-light 
of  historical  scrutiny  be  turned  upon  those  men.  Let 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  go 
to  posterity.  With  the  purpose  of  contributing  to  this 
end,  I  shall  incorporate,  not  in  foot-notes  but  in  the 
body  of  this  chapter,  all  the  important  and  trustworthy 
evidence  at  my  command  bearing  upon  this  question, 

1  Hotckkiss's  Journal,  "War  Records,"  First  Series,  Part  I, 
Vol.  XLIII,  p.  582. 


364   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAE 

which  is  the  gravest  that  has  ever  been  asked  or  could 
be  asked  concerning  Confederate  soldiers.  I  shall  give 
proofs  which  cannot  be  called  in  question,  in  extracts 
from  the  official  reports  and  written  statements  of  all 
the  prominent  Confederate  actors  in  that  battle,  so  far 
as  I  can  possibly  procure  them. 

To  begin  with,  I  quote  fully  and  carefully  from  Gen 
eral  Early's  reports  to  General  Lee,  which  I  did  not  see 
until  they  were  published  by  the  Government  in  the 
records  of  the  "  War  of  the  Rebellion."  In  his  despatch, 
dated  October  20,  1864,  speaking  of  his  troops,  General 
Early  says :  "  But  for  their  bad  conduct  I  should  have 
defeated  Sheridan's  whole  force."  1  In  his  more  formal 
report  of  October  21st,  speaking  of  an  order  said  to  have 
been  sent  to  Kershaw  and  Gordon  to  advance,  he  says : 
"  They  stated  in  reply  that  .  .  .  their  ranks  were  so 
depleted  by  the  number  of  men  who  had  stopped  in  the 
camps  to  plunder  that  they  could  not  advance."  -  In 
the  same  report  on  the  same  page,  he  says  :  "  So  many  of 
our  men  had  stopped  in  camp  to  plunder  (in  which  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  officers  participated),"  etc.  Again,  in 
another  connection,  he  says :  "  We  had  within  our  grasp 
a  glorious  victory,  and  lost  it  by  the  uncontrollable  pro 
pensity  to  plunder,  in  the  first  place,  and  the  subsequent 
panic,  .  .  .  which  was  without  sufficient  cause,"  etc. 
In  another  connection,  speaking  of  the  efforts  to  guard 
against  plundering,  he  says :  "  The  truth  is,  we  have  few 
field  and  company  officers  worth  anything,"  etc.  Before 
closing  his  report  he  again  says :  "  But  the  victory  already 
gained  was  lost  by  the  subsequent  bad  conduct  of  the 
troops." 

Before  introducing  the  array  of  witnesses  and  the 
incontrovertible  facts  which  overwhelmingly  vindicate 
these  chivalrous  and  self-sacrificing  men,  I  wish  to  say, 

i  War  Records,  First  Series,  Vol.  XLIII,  Part  I,  p.  560. 
?Ibid.,  pp.  562  and  563. 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CBEEK  365 

as  a  matter  of  simple  justice  to  General  Early,  that  he 
was  misled.  His  place  was  at  the  front,  and  after  he 
came  upon  the  field  he  was  there  —  as  he  always  was, 
when  duty  called  him.  No  soldier  or  citizen  was  braver 
or  more  loyally  devoted  to  our  cause  than  Jubal  A. 
Early;  but,  as  General  Lee  once  said  of  another,  he 
was  "very  pertinacious  of  his  opinions,"  and  when  once 
formed  he  rarely  abandoned  them.  He  fought  against 
secession  and  for  the  Union  until  it  was  broken.  He  tied 
his  faith  to  the  Confederacy  and  fought  for  that  while  it 
lived,  and  he  did  not  abandon  its  cause  until  both  the 
Confederacy  and  himself  were  dead.  He  had  been  led 
to  believe  that  his  men  at  Cedar  Creek  had  left  their 
places  in  line  to  gather  the  tempting  debris  from  the 
Federal  wreck,  and  he  steadfastly  stood  by  this  state 
ment.  Little  wonder,  then,  that  there  should  be  the 
"  contention  "  which  Captain  Hotchkiss  has  noted. 

General  Kershaw  is  dead,  but  were  he  living  he  would 
unite  with  me,  as  shown  by  the  reports  of  his  officers,  in 
the  statement  that  no  such  order  ever  reached  us  as  the 
one  which  General  Early  sent.  No  reply  was  ever  re 
turned  by  General  Kershaw  or  myself  to  the  effect  that 
we  could  not  advance.  The  truth  is  we  were  not  only 
urgently  anxious  to  advance,  but  were  astounded  at  any 
halt  whatever.  Our  troops  were  not  absent.  They  were 
there  in  line,  eager  to  advance,  as  will  appear  from  the 
unanswerable  proofs  submitted.  General  Evans,  who 
commanded  my  division  while  I  commanded  the  Second 
Corps  in  the  morning  victory,  says:  "When  you  con 
gratulated  me  on  the  field  immediately  after  our  great 
victory  ...  I  was  so  impressed  by  your  remarks  as  to 
be  convinced  that  we  would  at  once  pursue  our  advan 
tage.  ...  I  had  small  details  sent  over  the  ground 
we  had  traversed  in  order  to  bring  up  every  man  who 
had  fallen  out  for  any  cause  except  for  wounds.  .  .  . 
"When  the  attack  [afternoon]  came  from  the  enemy  my 


366    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

command  was  not  straggling  and  plundering.  ...  I 
wish  I  could  see  my  men  fully  vindicated  as  to  their 
conduct  in  this  battle." 

General  Cullen  A.  Battle  says:  "I  saw  no  plundering 
at  Cedar  Creek,  not  even  a  straggler.  My  troops  were 
in  the  best  possible  condition."  In  another  statement 
he  says :  "  I  never  saw  troops  behave  better  than  ours 
did  at  Cedar  Creek." 

Major-General  Wharton,  who  was  in  the  best  possible 
position  to  know  if  there  was  any  straggling  or  plunder 
ing,  uses  these  words :  "  The  report  of  the  soldiers  strag 
gling  and  pillaging  the  enemy's  camps  is  not  correct. 
.  .  .  I  had  a  pretty  fair  view  of  a  large  part  of  the 
field  over  which  you  had  driven  the  enemy.  It  is  true 
that  there  were  parties  passing  over  the  field  and  perhaps 
pillaging,  but  most  of  them  were  citizens,  teamsters  and 
persons  attached  to  the  quartermaster's  and  other  de 
partments,  and  perhaps  a  few  soldiers  who  had  taken 
the  wounded  to  the  rear.  No,  general ;  the  disaster  was 
not  due  to  the  soldiers  leaving  their  commands  and 
pillaging." 

Of  all  the  reports  of  Cedar  Creek  which  have  been 
published  in  the  War  Records,  not  one  except  General 
Early's  alone  remotely  hints  at  plundering  as  the  cause 
of  that  unprecedented  revulsion  after  the  morning 
victory.  Only  two  of  those  reports  refer  to  the  matter  in 
any  way  whatever,  and  in  both  the  language  completely 
exonerates  these  devoted  men.  General  Bryan  Grimes, 
who  was  promoted  to  command  of  Ramseur's  division, 
says :  "  Up  to  the  hour  of  4  P.M.  the  troops  of  this  divi 
sion,  both  officers  and  men,  with  a  few  exceptions,  be 
haved  most  admirably  and  were  kept  well  in  hand,  but 
little  plundering  and  only  a  few  shirking  duty."  He 
adds:  "Major  Whiting,  inspector,  rendered  signal  ser 
vice  by  preventing  all  straggling  and  plundering  " J 

1  War  Records,  First  Series,  Vol    XLIII,  Part  I,  p.  600 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  3G7 

John  R.  Winston,  in  his  report  (same  vol.,  p.  608),  says : 

"  The  men  went  through  a  camp  just  as  it  was 
deserted,  with  hats,  boots,  blankets,  tents,  and  such 
things  as  tempt  our  soldiers  scattered  over  it,  and  after 
diligent  inquiry  I  heard  of  but  one  man  who  even 
stopped  to  pick  up  a  thing.  He  got  a  hat,  and  has 
charges  preferred  against  him."  He  refers  with  pride  to 
the  "splendid  conduct  of  these  troops,"  etc. 

That  gallant  soldier  J.  M.  Goggin,  who  commanded 
Conner's  brigade  of  Kershaw's  division,  in  his  official 
report,  says :  "  Up  to  this  time  "  [the  afternoon  assault 
by  Sheridan]  "  both  men  and  officers  had  obeyed  with 
commendable  cheerfulness  and  alacrity  all  orders  given 
them.  ...  I  cannot  forbear  giving  both  officers 
and  men  that  praise  which  is  so  justly  their  due  for  the 
noble  display  of  all  the  admirable  and  true  qualities  of 
the  soldier  up  to  the  time  the  retreat  was  ordered ;  and 
no  one  who  witnessed  the  advance  of  the  brigade  that 
day  against  different  positions  of  the  enemy  will  hesitate 
to  bestow  upon  it  their  [his]  unqualified  admiration" 
(p.  594). 

While  almost  any  one  of  these  pointed  and  just  testi 
monials  would  be  a  sufficient  vindication  of  these  self- 
immolating  veterans,  yet  I  must  introduce  here  the 
most  comprehensive  statement  of  all.  It  was  written 
by  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Hopkins,  now  pastor  of  the  Presby 
terian  Church  of  Charlestown,  West  Virginia.  He  was, 
during  the  war,  one  of  the  leading  Confederate  chap 
lains.  In  the  different  battles  he  was  present,  mingling 
with  the  soldiers,  caring  for  the  wounded,  and  doing 
admirable  service  in  encouraging  the  men  who  were  on 
the  fighting-line.  No  dangers  deterred  him;  no  sacri 
fices  were  too  great  for  him  to  make.  Dr.  Hopkins  was 
one  of  those  sterling  characters  who  esteemed  honor  and 
truth  as  of  far  greater  value  than  life  itself.  In  the 
carefully  prepared  statement  which  he  wrote  of  Cedar 


368  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

Creek,  he  says :  "  The  writer  was  a  '  free-lance '  that 
day,  and  all  over  the  field  from  rear  to  front,  from  the 
time  Gordon  struck  Crook's  lines  at  daybreak  till  the 
afternoon.  He  was  sometimes  with  our  lines  and  some 
times  with  the  wounded,  over  the  field  and  through  the 
Yankee  camps.  ...  It  is  true  that  many  men  straggled 
and  plundered ;  but  they  were  men  who  in  large  num 
bers  had  been  wounded  in  the  summer's  campaign,  who 
had  come  up  to  the  army  for  medical  examination,  and 
who  came  like  a  division  down  the  pike  behind  Whar- 
ton,  and  soon  scattered  over  the  field  and  camps  and 
helped  themselves.  They  were  soldiers  more  or  less 
disabled,  and  not  on  duty.  This  body  I  myself  saw  as 
they  came  on  the  battle-field  and  scattered.  They  were 
not  men  with  guns.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
General  Early  mistook  them  for  men  who  had  fallen  out 
of  ranks."  In  speaking  of  that  "  contention "  between 
General  Early  and  myself  which  was  evoked  by  this 
serious  misapprehension  as  to  the  "  bad  conduct "  of  our 
brave  men,  Dr.  Hopkins  says:  "Nearly  all  the  in 
spectors  who  sent  reports  for  19th  October  to  General 
Gordon  either  gave  the  numbers  of  men  carried  up  to 
the  lines  during  the  day  or  vindicated  their  commands 
from  General  Early's  imputation.  And  these  inspectors' 
reports  were  consolidated  at  General  Gordon's  head 
quarters  and  the  substance  forwarded  in  his  report  to 
General  Early.  Unfortunately,  no  inspectors'  reports 
appear  among  the  published  records,  and  they  [the 
records]  contain  not  one  word  from  General  Gordon 
on  this  battle." 

It  sterns  to  me  unnecessary  to  lengthen  this  chapter 
by  additional  evidence  or  by  any  argument.  The  proofs 
already  adduced  compass  the  irrefutable  vindication  of 
the  winners  of  the  morning  victory  at  Cedar  Creek. 
Many  of  the  dead  commanders  left  on  record  their  testi 
mony  ;  and  it  is  true,  I  think,  that  every  living  Confed- 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  369 

erate  officer  who  commanded  at  Cedar  Creek  a  corps,  or 
division,  or  brigade,  or  regiment,  or  company,  would  tes 
tify  that  his  men  fought  with  unabated  ardor,  and  did 
not  abandon  their  places  in  line  to  plunder  the  captured 
camps.  It  is  truly  marvellous,  therefore,  that  the  state 
ment  that  their  "bad  conduct"  caused  the  disastrous  re 
verse  has  gone  into  books  and  is  treated  as  history 
in  all  sections  of  the  country.  Even  ex-President  Jeffer 
son  Davis,  the  last  man  on  earth  who  would  knowingly 
do  Confederate  soldiers  an  injustice,  was  totally  misled 
by  General  Early's  statement. 

If  my  official  report  of  the  battle  of  Cedar  Creek  had 
been  forwarded  to  General  Lee  and  published  in  the 
War  Records,  I  might  be  pardoned  by  my  comrades  and 
their  children  if  I  did  not  write  as  I  am  now  writing  in 
vindication  of  the  men  who  fought  so  superbly  and  ex 
hibited  such  marked  self-denial  in  that  most  unique  of 
battles.  Not  for  my  sake,  but  for  theirs,  I  deeply  regret 
the  absence  of  my  report  from  those  records.  It  is  only 
since  this  book  was  begun  that  my  attention  was  called 
to  this  fact.  It  would  seem  that  my  report  never  reached 
General  Lee.  Otherwise  it  would  have  been  among  his 
papers,  and  assuredly  have  found  its  place  in  the  volumes 
issued  by  the  Government.  General  Lee,  however,  did 
not  agree  with  his  lieutenant  commanding  in  the  Valley 
as  to  the  kind  of  metal  these  men  were  made  of.  On 
September  27th  he  wrote  General  Early:  "I  have  such 
confidence  in  the  men  and  officers  that  I  am  sure  all  will 
unite  in  defence  of  the  country." 1  These  men  were  not 
strangers  to  General  Lee.  He  knew  them.  He  had  seen 
them  in  the  past  years  of  the  war,  performing  deeds  of 
valor  and  exercising  a  self-denial  the  simple  record  of 
which  would  rival  the  legends  of  the  romantic  era  of 
chivalry.  They  had  not  changed,  except  to  grow,  if 
possible,  into  a  more  self-sacrificing  manhood  as  the  de* 

1  War  Records,  First  Series,  Vol.  XLIII,  Part  I,  p.  558. 


370    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

mands  upon  them  became  more  exacting.  Whatever 
they  had  been  in  the  battles  around  Richmond,  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,  at  Chancellor sville,  at  Gettysburg,  at  Cold 
Harbor,  in  the  Wilderness,  and  in  the  great  counter 
charge  at  Spottsylvania,  they  were  the  same  at  Cedar 
Creek.  The  men  who  were  in  the  captured  camps  were 
not  the  soldiers  who  fought  the  morning  battle  and  won 
the  morning  victory.  The  "plunderers,"  if  such  they 
may  be  called,  were  not  the  fiery  South  Carolinians  who, 
under  Kershaw,  had  so  fearlessly  and  fiercely  stormed 
and  carried  the  Union  breastworks  at  dawn.  They  were 
not  the  steadfast  Virginians  who,  under  Wharton,  had 
rushed  into  the  combat,  adding  fresh  momentum  to  the 
resistless  Confederate  charge.  They  were  not  the  men 
under  my  command,  the  Second  Corps,  which  Jackson 
had  immortalized  and  which  had  helped  to  immortalize 
him.  They  were  not  the  men  who,  under  Evans,  and 
Ramseur,  and  Grimes,  and  Battle,  and  Pegram,  had  be 
fore  daybreak  plunged  into  the  cold  water  to  their  waists 
or  armpits,  and  with  drenched  bodies  and  water-soaked 
uniforms  had  warmed  themselves  in  the  hot  furnace  of 
battle.  These  men  at  Cedar  Creek  were  heroes,  descended 
from  heroic  sires,  inspired  by  heroic  women,  trained  to 
self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  through  four  years  of  the 
most  heroic  of  wars,  and  battling  through  cold  and  heat 
and  hunger  against  heroic  Americans.  Were  these  the 
men  to  abandon  their  places  in  front  to  plunder  in  the 
rear !  Who,  then,  were  the  men  in  the  captured  camps 
who  were  reported  to  General  Early?  They  were  men 
without  arms,  the  partially  disabled,  whom  the  army 
surgeons  had  pronounced  scarcely  strong  enough  for  the 
long  and  rough  night  march  and  the  strenuous  work  of 
the  battle.  These  half-sick  and  disabled  men  had  come 
along  the  smooth,  open  pike  at  their  leisure,  when  they 
learned  of  the  great  victory.  They  came  thinking  it  no 
robbery  to  supply  themselves  with  shoes  and  trousers 


THE  FATAL  HALT  AT  CEDAR  CREEK  371 

and  overcoats  and  blankets  and  "grub"  from  the  vast 
accumulations  purchased  that  morning  by  the  toil  and 
blood  of  their  able-bodied  comrades — from  the  stores 
which  the  richly  provided  Federals,  in  their  unceremon 
ious  departure,  had  neglected  to  take  away. 

Many  years  have  passed  since  the  Confederate  com 
mander  at  Cedar  Creek  was  misled  and  induced  to  place 
on  record  his  belief  as  to  the  bad  conduct  of  his  men  — 
a  belief,  I  repeat,  fixed  in  his  mind  by  misinformation 
and  grounded  on  total  misapprehension.  But  many 
years  had  also  passed  after  the  battle  of  Cold  Harbor 
before  the  exculpation  of  the  brave  men  of  the  Union 
army  was  effected  by  General  Horace  Porter  in  his  book, 
"Campaigning  with  Grant."  The  refutation  of  that 
wrong,  although  long  delayed,  will  be  none  the  less  ap 
preciated  by  Union  veterans  and  by  all  their  descend 
ants.  It  is  not  too  late,  I  trust,  for  the  truth,  as  now 
revealed,  to  vindicate  these  Confederates.  Appeals, 
pathetic  and  earnest,  have  been  made  to  me  for  years, 
the  burden  of  w^hich  has  been :  "I  want  you,  before  you 
die,  to  do  justice  to  the  men  who  fought  at  Cedar 
Creek."  The  stoniest  heart  would  be  moved  by  such 
appeals.  They  would  stir  the  sensibilities  of  any  man 
who  saw  those  dauntless  veterans  on  that  field  or  who 
fought  and  suffered  with  them  in  the  Confederate  army. 
I  had  a  right,  however,  to  suppose  that  the  great  War 
Eecords  would  include  my  report  and  the  inspectors' 
reports,  every  one  of  which,  I  believe,  without  an  excep 
tion,  was  a  vindication  of  that  little  army  whose  valor 
and  scrupulous,  soldierly  bearing  has  never  been  sur 
passed.  I  protested  at  the  time  against  the  injustice 
done  them.  Hence  the  "contention"  recorded  by  Cap 
tain  Hotchkiss.  I  left  the  substance  of  that  protest  in 
permanent  form,  but  that  is  lost ;  and  now  I  esteem  it 
one  of  the  most  imperative  duties  devolving  upon  me  to 
do  all  in  my  power  to  guide  the  future  historian  to  a 


372    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

clear  apprehension  of  the  truth  in  regard  to  the  chival 
rous  character  and  conduct  of  these  loyal  men.  Al 
though  the  unparalleled  wrong  which,  through 
misapprehension,  was  done  them  may  have  already 
crystallized  in  war  records  arid  so-called  histories,  yet  I 
shall  live  and  die  in  the  confident  hope  that  the  irrefu 
table  proofs  herein  adduced,  which  have  never  before  been 
grouped  and  marshalled,  will  stand  as  their  complete 
though  tardy  vindication. 

No  man,  I  think,  has  a  higher  or  more  just  apprecia 
tion  than  myself  of  our  Confederate  leaders;  but  the 
brilliant  victories  won  by  our  arms  will  be  found,  in 
their  last  analyses,  to  be  in  a  large  measure  due  to  the 
strong  individuality,  the  deep-seated  convictions,  the 
moral  stamina,  the  martial  instinct,  and  the  personal 
prowess  of  our  private  soldiers ;  and  in  no  divisions  of 
Lee's  army  were  these  characteristics  more  completely 
developed  than  in  those  which  fought  at  Cedar  Creek. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR 

frequent  skirmishes  follow  Cedar  Creek— Neither  commander  anxious 
for  a  general  engagement— Desolation  in  the  Valley— A  fated  family 
—  Transferred  to  Petersburg— A  gloomy  Christmas— All  troops  on 
reduced  rations— Summoned  to  Lee's  headquarters— Consideration 
of  the  dire  straits  of  the  army— Three  possible  courses. 

THE  Cedar  Creek  catastrophe  did  not  wholly  dispirit 
Early's  army  nor  greatly  increase  the  aggressive 
energy  of  Sheridan's.  It  was  the  last  of  the  great  con 
flicts  in  the  historic  Valley  which  for  four  years  had  been 
torn  and  blood-stained  by  almost  incessant  battle.  Fol 
lowing  on  Cedar  Creek  were  frequent  skirmishes,  some 
sharp  tilts  with  Sheridan's  cavalry,  a  number  of  captures 
and  losses  of  guns  and  wagons  by  both  sides,  and  an 
amount  of  marching— often  twenty  to  twenty-five  miles 
a  day— that  sorely  taxed  the  bruised  and  poorly  shod 
feet  of  the  still  cheerful  Confederates.  On  November  16th 
Captain  Hotchkiss  made  this  memorandum  in  his  Jour 
nal  :  "  Sent  a  document  to  Colonel  Boteler  showing  that 
to  this  date  we  had  marched,  since  the  opening  of  the 
campaign,  sixteen  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  and  had 
seventy-five  battles  and  skirmishes."  All  of  the  en 
counters  which  followed  Cedar  Creek,  however,  would 
not  have  equalled  in  casualties  a  second-rate  battle ;  but 
they  served  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  neither  com 
mander  was  disposed  to  bring  the  other  to  a  general 

373 


374    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

engagement.  Evidently  the  grievous  castigation  which 
each  received  at  Cedar  Creek  had  left  him  in  the  sad 
plight  of  the  Irishman  who,  recovering  from  an  attack 
of  grip,  declared  that  it  was  the  worst  disease  he  ever 
had,  for  it  kept  him  sick  four  months  after  he  got  well. 
During  this  period  of  Union  and  Confederate  con 
valescence  I  was  transferred,  by  General  Lee's  orders,  to 
the  lines  of  defence  around  the  beleagured  Confederate 
capital  and  its  sympathizing  sister  city,  Petersburg. 
My  command,  the  Second  Corps,  consisted  of  the  divi 
sions  of  Evans,  Grimes,  and  Pegrarn.  Before  dawn  on 
December  8th  the  long  trains  were  bearing  two  divisions 
of  my  command  up  the  western  slope  of  the  Blue  Ridge 
range  which  separated  that  hitherto  enchanting  Valley 
from  the  undulating  Piedmont  region,  which  Thomas 
Jefferson  thought  was  some  day  to  become  the  most 
populous  portion  of  our  country  because  so  richly  en 
dowed  by  nature.  As  I  stood  on  the  back  platform  of 
the  last  car  in  the  train  and  looked  back  upon  that 
stricken  Valley,  I  could  but  contrast  the  aspect  of  devas 
tation  and  woe  which  it  then  presented,  with  the  bounty 
and  peace  in  all  its  homes  at  the  beginning  of  the  war. 
Prior  to  1862  it  was,  if  possible,  more  beautiful  and  pros 
perous  than  the  famed  blue-grass  region  of  Kentucky. 
Before  the  blasting  breath  of  war  swept  over  its  rich 
meadows  and  fields  of  clover,  they  had  been  filled  with 
high-mettled  horses,  herds  of  fine  cattle,  and  flocks  of 
sheep  that  rivalled  England's  best.  These  were  all  gone. 
The  great  water-wheels  which  four  years  before  had 
driven  the  busy  machinery  of  the  mills  were  motionless- 
standing  and  rotting,  the  silent  vouchers  of  wholesale 
destruction.  Heaps  of  ashes,  of  half-melted  iron  axles 
and  bent  tires,  were  the  melancholy  remains  of  burnt 
barns  and  farm- wagons  and  implements  of  husbandry. 
Stone  and  brick  chimneys,  standing  alone  in  the  midst 
of  charred  trees  which  once  shaded  the  porches  of  lux- 


THE   LAST   WINTER  OF   THE   WAR    375 

urious  and  happy  homes,  told  of  hostile  torches  which 
had  left  these  grim  sentinels  the  only  guards  of  those 
sacred  spots.  At  the  close  of  this  campaign  of  General 
Sheridan  there  was  in  that  entire  fertile  valley— the 
former  American  Arcadia — scarcely  a  family  that  was 
not  struggling  for  subsistence. 

Among  the  excellent  soldiers  who  participated  in  all 
that  Valley  campaign  was  a  Virginian,  who  is  now 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Harris  of  Cedartown,  Georgia.  Dr. 
Harris's  high  character  as  a  man  and  his  familiarity  with 
the  facts  justify  me  in  giving  his  written  account  of  the 
marvellous  fatality  which  attended  the  representatives  of 
a  Virginia  family  which  contributed  perhaps  a  larger 
number  of  soldiers  to  the  Confederate  army  than  any 
other  in  the  Southern  States.  Two  companies  of  the  Six 
tieth  Virginia  Regiment  were  enlisted  in  and  around 
Christiansburg,  which  seems  to  have  received  its  name 
from  the  family  which  contributed  eighteen  of  its  mem 
bers  —  brothers  and  cousins  —  to  those  two  Confederate 
companies.  These  eighteen  kinsmen  had  inherited  their 
love  of  liberty  from  Revolutionary  ancestors,  and  had 
imbibed  from  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  Old 
Dominion  those  lofty  ideals  of  manhood  of  which  her 
great  people  are  so  justly  proud.  When,  therefore, 
Virginia  passed  the  solemn  ordinance  of  secession  and 
cast  her  lot  with  that  of  her  sister  States,  these  high- 
spirited  young  men  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army. 
I  recall  nothing  in  history  or  even  in  romance  which 
equals  in  uniqueness  and  pathos  the  fate  that  befell 
them.  The  decrees  of  that  fate  were  uniform  and  inex 
orable.  One  by  one,  these  kinsmen  fell  in  succeeding 
engagements.  In  every  fight  in  which  the  regiment 
was  engaged  one  of  this  brave  family  was  numbered 
among  the  dead.  As  battle  succeeded  battle,  and  each, 
with  appalling  regularity,  claimed  its  victim,  there  ran 
through  company  and  regiment  the  unvarying  question. 


376    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

"Which  one  of  the  Christians  was  killed  to-day,  and 
which  one  will  go  next?"  Yet  among  the  survivors 
there  was  no  wavering,  no  effort  to  escape  the  doom 
which  seemed  surely  awaiting  each  in  his  turn.  With 
a  consecration  truly  sublime,  each  took  his  place  in 
line,  ready  for  the  sacrifice  which  duty  demanded. 
For  seventeen  successive  engagements  the  gruesome 
record  of  death  had  not  varied.  Then  came  Cedar 
Creek.  Only  one  of  the  gallant  eighteen  was  left.  His 
record  for  courage  was  unsurpassed.  A  number  of 
times  he  had  been  wounded,  and  in  the  deadly  hand-to- 
hand  struggle  at  Cold  Harbor  he  had  been  pierced  by  a 
bayonet.  Faithful  to  every  duty,  he  had  never  missed 
a  fight.  When  the  orders  were  issued  for  the  night 
march  and  the  assault  at  dawn  upon  Sheridan's  army,  a 
deep  fraternal  concern  for  this  last  survivor  of  the 
Christians  was  manifested  by  all  of  his  comrades.  He 
was  privately  importuned  to  stay  out  of  the  fight;  or, 
if  unwilling  to  remain  in  camp  while  his  comrades 
fought,  he  was  urged  to  go  home.  Whether  he  yielded 
to  these  warnings  and  entreaties  will  probably  never  be 
known.  He  was  seen  by  his  comrades  no  more  after  that 
night  march  to  Cedar  Creek.  Many  believe  that  he  was 
loyal  "  even  unto  death,"  and  that  he  lies  with  the  heroic 
and  "  unknown  dead  "  who  fell  upon  that  eventful  field. 

On  reaching  Petersburg  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  hold  the 
extreme  right  of  Lee's  infantry.  In  front  of  this  exposed 
wing  was  a  dense  second  growth  of  pines  in  which  the 
daring  scouts  of  both  armies  often  passed  each  other  at 
night  and  found  hiding-places  during  their  adventures. 
This  forest  also  served  to  conceal  the  movements  of 
troops  and  made  artillery  practically  useless. 

Behind  my  position  was  the  South  Side  Railroad— 
the  last  of  the  long  commercial  arteries  that  had  not 
been  cut.  General  Grant  saw  that  to  cut  it  was  to 
starve  Lee's  army,  and  this  meant  the  death  of  the 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  377 

Confederacy.  His  constant  aim,  therefore,  was  to  seize 
and  sever  it.  My  instructions  were  to  prevent  this  at 
any  cost.  The  winter  rains  and  snows  and  boggy  roads 
were  my  helpers,  and  no  great  battles  ensued.  There 
were,  however,  occasional  demonstrations  of  Grant's 
purpose,  and  he  managed  to  keep  us  alert  night  and 
day.  It  was  a  very  lame  railroad,  even  when  left  with 
out  Federal  interference.  The  iron  rails  were  nearly 
worn  out,  and  there  were  no  new  ones  to  replace  them. 
If  the  old  and  badly  maimed  locomotives  broke  down, 
there  were  few  or  no  facilities  for  repairing  them.  So 
that  if  the  supplies  had  been  in  the  far  South  this  crip 
pled  road  could  not  have  brought  them  to  us ;  but,  like 
the  woman  who  said  that  she  had  "  but  one  tooth  above 
and  one  below,  but,  thank  God,  they  hit,"  we  felici 
tated  ourselves  that  the  shackling  engines  did  fit  the  old 
track  and  could  help  us  somewhat.  The  commissary 
informed  me,  soon  after  my  troops  were  in  their  new 
position,  that  it  was  impossible  for  the  G-overnment  to 
supply  us  with  more  than  half-rations,  and  that  even 
these  were  by  no  means  certain.  My  different  com 
mands,  therefore,  were  at  once  instructed  to  send  wagons 
into  the  back  country  and  remote  settlements  and  pur 
chase  everything  obtainable  that  would  sustain  life. 

"  But  suppose  the  teams  and  wagons  are  attacked  and 
captured  by  raiding-parties  ? " 

"That  chance  must  not  deter  you.  Men  are  worth 
more  than  mules  and  wagons,  and  we  shall  have  no  men 
unless  we  can  feed  them,"  I  replied. 

This  haphazard  method  of  feeding  the  corps  proved 
to  be  the  best  then  available ;  and  later  I  had  the  satis 
faction  of  receiving  General  Lee's  congratulations. 

In  one  of  General  Grant's  efforts  to  break  through  my 
lines,  General  John  Pegram,  one  of  my  most  accom 
plished  commanders,  fell,  his  blood  reddening  the  white, 
snow  that  carpeted  the  field,  He  had  just  married  Miss 


378   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAI 


Carey  of  Baltimore,  one  of  the  South's  most  beautiful  and 
accomplished  women.  Thus,  within  a  few  months,  rav 
enous  war  had  claimed  as  victims  two  distinguished  offi 
cers  of  my  command,  almost  immediately  after  tLeh- 
marriages.  One  of  these  was  Pegram  of  Virginia;  the 
other  was  Lamar  of  Georgia. 

Christmas  (December  25,  1864)  came  while  we  were 
fighting  famine  within  and  Grant  without  our  lines.  To 
meet  either  was  a  serious  problem.  The  Southern  people 
from  their  earliest  history  had  observed  Christmas  as  the 
great  holiday  season  of  the  year.  It  was  the  time  of 
times,  the  longed-for  period  of  universal  and  innocent  but 
almost  boundless  jollification  among  young  and  old.  In 
towns  and  on  the  plantations,  purse-strings  were  loosened 
and  restraints  relaxed— so  relaxed  that  even  the  fun-lov 
ing  negro  slaves  were  permitted  to  take  some  liberties 
with  their  masters,  to  perpetrate  practical  jokes  upon 
them,  and  before  daylight  to  storm  "de  white  folks" 
houses  with  their  merry  calls :  "Christmas  gift,  master  ! " 
"Christmas  gift,  everybody ! "  The  holiday, however,  on 
Hatcher's  Run,  near  Petersburg,  was  joyless  enough  for 
the  most  misanthropic.  The  one  worn-out  railroad  run 
ning  to  the  far  South  could  not  bring  to  us  half  enough 
necessary  supplies ;  and  even  if  it  could  have  transported 
Christmas  boxes  of  good  things,  the  people  at  home  were 
too  depleted  to  send  them.  They  had  already  impover 
ished  themselves  to  help  their  struggling  Government, 
and  large  areas  of  our  territory  had  been  made  desolate 
by  the  ravages  of  marching  armies.  The  brave  fellows 
at  the  front,  however,  knew  that  their  friends  at  home 
would  gladly  send  them  the  last  pound  of  sugar  in  the 
pantry,  and  the  last  turkey  or  chicken  from  the  barn 
yard.  So  they  facetiously  wished  each  other  "Merry 
Christmas ! "  as  they  dined  on  their  wretched  fare.  There 
was  no  complaining,  no  repining,  for  they  knew  their 
exhausted  country  was  doing  all  it  could  for  them. 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  379 

At  my  headquarters  on  that  Christmas  day  there  was 
unusual  merrymaking.  Mrs.  Gordon,  on  leaving  home 
four  years  before,  had  placed  in  her  little  army-trunk  a 
small  package  of  excellent  coffee,  and  had  used  it  only  on 
very  special  occasions— "  to  celebrate,"  as  she  said,  "our 
victories  in  the  first  years,  and  to  sustain  us  in  defeat  at 
the  last."  When  I  asked  her,  on  the  morning  of  Decem 
ber  25,  1864,  what  we  could  do  for  a  Christmas  celebra 
tion,  she  replied,  "I  can  give  you  some  of  that  coffee 
which  I  brought  from  home."  She  could  scarcely  have 
made  an  announcement  more  grateful  to  a  hungry  Con 
federate.  Coffee— genuine  coffee !  The  aroma  of  it 
filled  my  official  family  with  epicurean  enthusiasm  be 
fore  a  cup  was  passed  from  the  boiling  pot.  If  every 
man  of  us  was  not  intoxicated  by  that  indulgence  after 
long  and  enforced  abstinence,  the  hilarity  of  the  party 
was  misleading. 

The  left  of  my  line  rested  on  the  west  bank  of  Hatch 
er's  Run.  A.  P.  Hill's  corps  was  on  the  east  side,  with 
its  right  flank  upon  the  same  stream.  The  commanding 
general  directed  that  I  build  a  fort  at  the  left  of  my  line, 
and  that  A.  P.  Hill  construct  a  similar  one  near  it  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  run.  General  Hill  became  ill  after 
the  order  was  received,  and  the  construction  of  his  fort 
was  not  pressed.  Indeed,  the  weather  was  so  severe  and 
the  roads  so  nearly  impassable  that  there  was  no  urgent 
necessity  for  haste.  General  Lee,  however,  who  habit 
ually  interested  himself  in  the  smaller  as  well  as  the 
larger  matters  connected  with  his  army,  did  not  forget 
these  forts.  Riding  up  to  my  headquarters  on  a  cold 
morning  in  January,  1865,  he  requested  me  to  ride  with 
him  to  see  the  forts.  As  I  mounted  he  said:  "We  will 
go  by  General  -  — 's  quarters  and  ask  him  to  accompany 
us,  and  we  will  examine  both  forts."  When  this  officer 
joined  us  (he  was  temporarily  in  command  of  Hill's  corps 
during  the  latter's  absence  on  sick-leave),  General  Lee  at 


380    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

once  asked :  "General  Gordon,  how  are  you  getting  along 
with  your  fort?" 

"Very  well,  sir.     It  is  nearly  finished." 

Turning  to  the  other  officer,  he  asked:  "Well,  General 

— ,  how  is  the  work  upon  your  fort  progressing!" 

This  officer,  who  had  felt  no  special  responsibility  for 
the  fort,  as  he  was  only  temporarily  in  charge,  was  con 
siderably  embarrassed  by  the  general's  pointed  inquiry. 
He  really  had  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  amount  of 
work  done  upon  it,  but  ventured,  after  some  hesitation, 
the  reply :  "  I  think  the  fort  on  my  side  of  the  run  is 
also  about  finished,  sir." 

Passing  by  my  work  after  a  short  halt,  we  rode  to  the 
point  at  which  the  A.  P.  Hill  fort  was  to  be  located.  No 
fort  was  there ;  the  work  was  scarcely  begun.  General 
Lee  reined  up  his  horse,  and  looking  first  at  the  place 
where  the  fort  was  to  be,  and  then  at  the  officer,  he  said : 
"General,  you  say  the  fort  is  about  finished!" 

"I  must  have  misunderstood  my  engineers,  sir." 

"But  you  did  not  speak  of  your  engineers.  You  spoke 
of  the  fort  as  nearly  completed." 

This  officer  was  riding  a  superb  animal  which  General 
Lee  knew  had  been  presented  to  his  wife.  His  extreme 
embarrassment  made  him  unusually  nervous,  and  his 
agitation  was  imparted  to  the  high-mettled  animal, 
which  became  restless  and  was  not  easily  controlled. 
General  Lee  in  the  blandest  manner  asked:  "General, 
does  n't  Mrs. ride  that  horse  occasionally!" 

"Yes,  sir,"  he  replied. 

"Well,  general,  you  know  that  I  am  very  much  in 
terested  in  Mrs. 's  safety.  I  fear  that  horse  is  too 

nervous  for  her  to  ride  without  danger,  and  I  suggest 
that,  in  order  to  make  him  more  quiet,  you  ride  him  at 
least  once  every  day  to  this  fort." 

This  was  his  only  reprimand;  but  no  amount  of  se 
verity  on  the  part  of  the  commander-in-chief  could  have 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  381 

been  more  trying  to  the  sensibilities  of  the  officer,  who 
was  an  admirable  soldier,  commanding  General  Lee's 
entire  confidence.  The  officer's  mortification  was  so 
overwhelming  that,  on  our  return,  he  rode  considerably 
in  the  rear.  General  Lee  observed  this,  and  could  not 
resist  the  impulse  to  mitigate,  as  far  as  possible,  the  pang 
caused  by  the  rebuke  that  he  had  felt  compelled  to  admin 
ister.  Halting  his  horse  for  a  moment  and  looking  back 
at  the  officer  in  the  rear,  he  called  to  him:  "Ride  up 
and  join  us,  general.  I  want  to  ask  you  and  General 
Gordon  how  long  this  war  is  to  last."  As  we  rode  three 
abreast,  he  continued :  "  I  am  led  to  ask  this  question 
because  it  has  been  propounded  to  me.  I  received  a 
letter  this  morning  from  my  brother,  Captain  Lee  of  the 
Confederate  navy" — and  he  stressed  with  peculiar  em 
phasis  the  words  "  Confederate  navy."  We  had  no  navy 
except  our  marvellously  destructive  ironclads  and  some 
wild  rovers  of  the  sea.  He  continued :  "  You  know  these 
sailors  are  great  people  for  signs,  and  my  brother  says 
that  the  signs  are  conflicting :  that  the  girls  are  all  get 
ting  married,  and  that  is  a  sure  sign  of  war ;  but  nearly 
all  of  the  babies  are  girls,  and  that  is  a  sign  of  peace.  I 
want  you  gentlemen  to  tell  me  what  reply  I  shall  make 
to  Captain  Lee  of  the  Confederate  navy."  I  do  not  recall 
our  answer ;  but  the  fort  was  speedily  built. 

The  condition  of  our  army  was  daily  becoming  more 
desperate.  Starvation,  literal  starvation,  was  doing  its 
deadly  work.  So  depleted  and  poisoned  was  the  blood 
of  many  of  Lee's  men  from  insufficient  and  unsound  food 
that  a  slight  wound  which  would  probably  not  have 
been  reported  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  would  often 
cause  blood-poison,  gangrene,  and  death.  Yet  the  spirits 
of  these  brave  men  seemed  to  rise  as  their  condition 
grew  more  desperate.  The  grim  humor  of  the  camp  was 
waging  incessant  warfare  against  despondency.  They 
would  not  permit  one  another  to  be  disheartened  at  any 


382    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

trial,  or  to  complain  at  the  burden  or  the  chafing  of  any 
yoke  which  duty  imposed.  It  was  a  harrowing  but  not 
uncommon  sight  to  see  those  hungry  men  gather  the 
wasted  corn  from  under  the  feet  of  half-fed  horses,  and 
wash  and  parch  and  eat  it  to  satisfy  in  some  measure 
their  craving  for  food.  It  was  marvellous  that  their 
spirits  were  not  crushed,  and  still  more  marvellous  that 
they  would  extract  fun  from  every  phase  of  destitution, 
if  one  was  made  sick  at  night  by  his  supper  of  parched 
corn,  his  salutation  the  next  morning  would  be :  "  Hello, 
general ;  I  am  all  right  tins  morning.  I  ate  a  lot  of 
corn  last  night,  and  if  you  will  have  the  commissary 
issue  me  a  good  mess  of  hay  for  my  breakfast,  I  '11  be 
ready  for  the  next  fight." 

Another  would  advise  his  hungry  companion  to  spend 
his  month's  pay  of  Confederate  money  for  a  bottle  of 
strong  astringent  and  draw  in  his  stomach  to  the  size 
of  his  ration. 

It  was  during  this  doleful  period  that  the  suggestion 
to  give  freedom  to  Southern  slaves  and  arm  them  for 
Southern  defence  became  the  pressing,  vital  problem  at 
Richmond.  It  had  been  seriously  considered  for  a  long 
period  by  the  civil  authorities,  and  the  opinions  of 
certain  officers  in  the  field  were  at  this  time  formally 
solicited.  General  Lee  strongly  favored  it,  and  so  did 
many  members  of  Congress;  but  the  bill  as  finally 
passed  was  absurdly  deficient  in  the  most  important 
provisions.  It  did  not  make  plain  the  fact  that  the 
slave's  enlistment  would  at  once  secure  his  freedom. 
Public  sentiment  was  widely  divided  as  to  the  policy  of 
such  a  step.  In  its  favor  was  the  stern  fact,  universally 
recognized,  that  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  fill  our 
ranks  except  by  converting  slaves  into  soldiers;  while 
the  great  Government  at  Washington  could  enlist  men 
not  only  from  the  populous  States  of  the  Union,  but 
from  the  teeming  populations  of  foreign  countries. 


THE  LAST  WINTER   OF  THE  WAR    383 

Again,  it  was  argued  in  favor  of  the  proposition  that 
the  loyalty  and  proven  devotion  of  the  Southern  negroes 
to  their  owners  would  make  them  serviceable  and  reli 
able  as  fighters,  while  their  inherited  habits  of  obedience 
would  make  it  easy  to  drill  and  discipline  them.  The 
fidelity  of  the  race  during  the  past  years  of  the  war, 
their  refusal  to  strike  for  their  freedom  in  any  organized 
movement  that  would  involve  the  peace  and  safety  of 
the  communities  where  they  largely  outnumbered  the 
whites,  and  the  innumerable  instances  of  individual 
devotion  to  masters  and  their  families,  which  have 
never  been  equalled  in  any  servile  race,  were  all  con 
sidered  as  arguments  for  the  enlistment  of  slaves  as 
Confederate  soldiers.  Indeed,  many  of  them  who  were 
with  the  army  as  body-servants  repeatedly  risked  their 
lives  in  following  their  young  masters  and  bringing 
them  off  the  battle-field  when  wounded  or  dead.  These 
faithful  servants  at  that  time  boasted  of  being  Confed 
erates,  and  many  of  them  meet  now  with  the  veterans 
in  their  reunions,  and,  pointing  to  their  Confederate 
badges,  relate  with  great  satisfaction  and  pride  their 
experiences  and  services  during  the  war.  One  of  them, 
who  attends  nearly  all  the  reunions,  can,  after  a  lapse  of 
nearly  forty  years,  repeat  from  memory  the  roll-call  of 
the  company  to  which  his  master  belonged.  General 
Lee  used  to  tell  with  decided  relish  of  the  old  negro  (a 
cook  of  one  of  his  officers)  who  called  to  see  him  at  his 
headquarters.  He  was  shown  into  the  general's  pres 
ence,  and,  pulling  off  his  hat,  he  said,  "  General  Lee,  I 
been  wanting  to  see  you  a  long  time.  I  'm  a  soldier." 

"  Ah  ?  To  what  army  do  you  belong— to  the  Union 
army  or  to  the  Southern  army  ? " 

"  Oh,  general,  I  belong  to  your  army." 

"  Well,  have  you  been  shot  ? " 

"  No,  sir ;  I  ain't  been  shot  yet." 

"  How  is  that !    Nearly  all  of  our  men  get  shot." 


384   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAE 

"  Why,  general,  I  ain't  been  shot  'cause  I  stays  back 
whar  de  generals  stay." 

Against  the  enlistment  of  negroes  were  urged  the  facts 
that  they  were  needed— were  absolutely  essential— on 
the  plantations  to  produce  supplies  for  the  armies  and 
the  people ;  that  even  with  their  labor  the  country  was 
exhausted,  and  without  it  neither  the  armies  nor  the 
people  at  home  could  survive;  that  the  sentiment  of 
the  army  itself  was  not  prepared  for  it,  and  that  our 
condition  was  too  critical  for  radical  experiments. 

The  meeting  of  the  Southern  commissioners —Mr. 
Stephens,  Mr.  Hunter,  and  Judge  Campbell,  with  Mr. 
Lincoln,  at  Hampton  Roads— had  brought  the  warring- 
sections  no  nearer  to  peace.  All  things  seemed  now 
prophetic  of  the  Confederacy's  certain  and  speedy  death. 
And  yet  I  must  record  in  this  connection  a  truth  of 
which  I  had  constant  evidence — that  our  great  com 
mander,  in  the  midst  of  all  these  depressing  and  over 
whelming  trials,  never  lost  for  an  hour  his  faith  in  the 
devotion  and  unconquerable  spirit  of  his  army.  And 
grandly  did  that  army  vindicate  the  justice  of  his  confi 
dence.  Although  the  thought  of  speedy  surrender  or 
ultimate  failure  must  have  occurred  to  officers  and  men, 
it  did  not  find  expression  even  in  the  most  confidential 
interviews.  At  least,  not  the  remotest  suggestion  of 
such  possibility  reached  my  ears  from  any  source.  An 
intense  loyalty  to  the  cause  seemed  to  imbue  every  man 
with  the  conviction  that  nothing  should  be  done  or  said 
which  could  discourage  his  comrades  or  in  any  degree 
impair  their  wonderful  enthusiasm.  The  orders  were 
necessarily  stringent  as  to  granting  furloughs,  but  de 
sertions  were  astonishingly  rare,  although  there  were  no 
restrictions  upon  correspondence,  and  the  mails  were 
loaded  with  letters  telling  the  soldiers  of  the  sufferings 
of  those  at  home  whom  they  loved  and  who  needed  their 
support  and  care.  No  one,  however  gifted  with  the 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  385 

power  of  vigorous  statement,  could  do  justice  to  the 
manhood  displayed  under  such  conditions.  The  com 
mander  appreciated  this  exhibition  of  patience  and 
endurance,  and  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  let  his  men 
know  it. 

In  addition  to  the  inspiration  of  devotion  to  him, 
every  man  of  them  was  supported  by  that  extraordinary 
consecration  resulting  from  the  conviction  that  he 
was  fighting  in  defence  of  home  and  the  rights  of  his 
State.  Hence  their  unfaltering  faith  in  the  justice  of 
the  cause,  their  fortitude  in  extreniest  privations,  their 
readiness  to  stand  shoeless  and  shivering  in  the  trenches 
at  night,  and  to  face  any  danger  at  their  leader's  call, 
while  their  astounding  cheerfulness  and  never-failing 
humor  were  gilding  with  an  ineffable  radiance  the  dark 
ness  gathering  around  them  in  these  last  days. 

The  months  of  December  and  January  had  passed. 
Less  than  two  months  were  to  intervene  before  the  last 
desperate  struggle  of  the  two  armies  would  be  inaugu 
rated.  Intelligent  scouts  kept  us  advised  of  the  im 
mense  preparations  progressing  in  the  Union  lines  for 
assaults  upon  our  breastworks  at  an  early  date. 

During  the  month  of  February,  1865  (I  cannot  now 
recall  the  exact  date),  General  Lee  sent  a  messenger, 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to  summon  me  to 
his  headquarters.  It  was  one  of  the  bitterest  nights  of 
that  trying  winter,  and  it  required  a  ride  of  several 
miles  to  reach  the  house  on  the  outskirts  of  Petersburg 
where  the  commanding-general  made  his  headquarters. 
As  I  entered,  General  Lee,  who  was  entirely  alone, 
was  standing  at  the  fireplace,  his  arm  on  the  mantel 
and  his  head  resting  on  his  arm  as  he  gazed  into  the 
coal  fire  burning  in  the  grate.  He  had  evidently  been 
up  all  the  previous  part  of  the  night.  For  the  first 
time  in  all  my  intercourse  with  him,  I  saw  a  look  of 


386   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

painful  depression  on  his  face.  Of  course  lie  had  expe 
rienced  many  hours  of  depression,  but  he  had  concealed 
from  those  around  him  all  evidence  of  discouragement. 
He  had  carried  the  burden  in  his  own  soul— wrapping 
his  doubts  and  apprehensions  in  an  exterior  of  cheerful 
ness  and  apparent  confidence.  The  hour  had  come, 
however,  when  he  could  no  longer  carry  alone  the 
burden,  or  entirely  conceal  his  forebodings  of  impend 
ing  disaster.  General  Longstreet  and  General  Ewell 
were  both  twenty  miles  away  on  their  lines  in  front  of 
Richmond;  A.  P.  Hill,  who  for  weeks  had  been  in  deli 
cate  health,  was  absent  on  furlough ;  and  I  found  myself 
alone  with  the  evidently  depressed  commander.  To 
me  he  had  the  appearance  of  one  suffering  from  physi 
cal  illness.  In  answer  to  my  inquiry  as  to  his  health, 
he  stated  that  he  was  well  enough  bodily,  and  had  sent 
for  me  in  order  to  counsel  with  me  as  to  our  prospects, 
etc.  In  his  room  was  a  long  table  covered  with  recent 
reports  from  every  portion  of  his  army.  Some  of  these 
reports  had  just  reached  him.  He  motioned  me  to  a 
chair  on  one  side  of  the  table,  and  seated  himself  oppo 
site  me.  I  had  known  before  I  came  that  our  army  was 
in  desperate  straits;  but  when  I  entered  that  room  I 
realized  at  once,  from  the  gravity  of  the  commander's 
bearing,  that  I  was  to  learn  of  a  situation  worse  than  I 
had  anticipated.  The  interview  was  a  long  one,  in 
tensely  absorbing,  and  in  many  respects  harrowing,  arid 
it  produced  in  me  a  keen  sense  of  responsibility.  It  led, 
eventually,  as  will  be  seen,  to  the  last  desperate  assault 
upon  Grant's  lines  at  Petersburg  which  was  made  by  my 
troops. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  quote  General  Lee  literally,  ex 
cept  where  his  words  were  so  engraved  on  my  mind  that 
I  cannot  forget  them  while  I  remember  anything.  He 
opened  the  conference  by  directing  me  to  read  the  re 
ports  from  the  different  commands  as  he  should  hand 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  387 

them  to  me,  and  to  carefully  note  every  important  fact 
contained  in  them. 

The  revelation  was  startling.  Each  report  was  bad 
enough,  and  all  the  distressing  facts  combined  were 
sufficient,  it  seemed  to  me,  to  destroy  all  cohesive  power 
and  lead  to  the  inevitable  disintegration  of  any  other 
army  that  was  ever  marshalled.  Of  the  great  disparity 
of  numbers  between  the  two  hostile  forces  I  was  already 
apprised.  I  had  also  learned  much  of  the  general  suffer 
ing  among  the  troops ;  but  the  condition  of  my  own 
command,  due  to  the  special  efforts  of  which  I  have 
spoken,  was  not  a  fair  measure  of  the  suffering  in  the 
army.  I  was  not  prepared  for  the  picture  presented  by 
these  reports  of  extreme  destitution— of  the  lack  of 
shoes,  of  hats,  of  overcoats,  and  of  blankets,  as  well  as  of 
food.  Some  of  the  officers  had  gone  outside  the  formal 
official  statement  as  to  numbers  of  the  sick,  to  tell  in 
plain,  terse,  and  forceful  words  of  depleted  strength, 
emaciation,  and  decreased  power  of  endurance  among 
those  who  appeared  on  the  rolls  as  fit  for  duty.  Cases 
were  given,  and  not  a  few,  where  good  men,  faithful, 
tried,  and  devoted,  gave  evidence  of  temporary  insanity 
and  indifference  to  orders  or  to  the  consequences  of  dis 
obedience—the  natural  and  inevitable  effect  of  their  men 
tal  and  bodily  sufferings.  My  recollection  is  that  Gen 
eral  Lee  stated  that,  since  the  reports  from  A.  P.  Hill's 
corps  had  been  sent  in,  he  had  learned  that  those  men 
had  just  been  rationed  on  one  sixth  of  a  pound  of  beef, 
whereas  the  army  ration  was  a  pound  of  beef  per  man 
per  day,  with  the  addition  of  other  supplies;  that  is  to 
say,  600  of  A.  P.  Hill's  men  were  compelled  to  subsist  on 
less  food  than  was  issued  to  100  men  in  General  Grant's 
army. 

When  I  had  finished  the  inspection  of  this  array  of 
serious  facts,  and  contemplated  the  bewildering  woe 
which  they  presented,  General  Lee  began  his  own  analy- 


388  BEMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

sis  of  the  situation.  He  first  considered  the  relative 
strength  of  his  army  and  that  of  General  Grant.  The 
exact  number  of  his  own  men  was  given  in  the  reports 
before  him— about  50,000,  or  35,000  fit  for  duty.  Against 
them  he  estimated  that  General  Grant  had  in  front  of 
Eichmond  and  Petersburg,  or  within  his  reach,  about 
150,000.  Coming  up  from  Knoxville  was  Thomas  with 
an  estimated  force  of  30,000  superb  troops,  to  whose  prog 
ress  General  Lee  said  we  could  offer  practically  no  resist 
ance—only  a  very  small  force  of  poorly  equipped  cavalry 
and  detached  bodies  of  infantry  being  available  for  that 
purpose. 

"From  the  Valley,"  he  said,  "General  Grant  can  and 
will  bring  upon  us  nearly  20,000,  against  whom  I  can 
oppose  scarcely  a  vedette."  This  made  an  army  of  200,000 
well-fed,  well-equipped  men  which  General  Grant  could 
soon  concentrate  upon  our  force  of  50,000,  whose  effi 
ciency  was  greatly  impaired  by  suffering.  Sherman  was 
approaching  from  North  Carolina,  and  his  force,  when 
united  with  Schofield's,  would  reach  80,000.  What  force 
had  we  to  confront  that  army?  General  Beauregard 
had  telegraphed  a  few  days  before  that,  with  the  aid  of 
Governor  Vance's  Home  Guards,  he  could  muster  prob 
ably  20,000  to  25,000.  But  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston 
had  just  sent  a  despatch  saying  in  substance  that  Gen 
eral  Beauregard  had  overestimated  his  strength,  and  that 
it  would  be  nearer  the  truth  to  place  the  available  Con 
federate  force  at  from  13,000  to  15,000.  So  that  the  final 
summing  up  gave  Grant  the  available  crushing  power  of 
280,000  men,  while  to  resist  this  overwhelming  force  Lee 
had  in  round  numbers  only  65,000. 

This  estimate  ended,  the  commander  rose,  and  with 
one  hand  resting  upon  the  depressing  reports,  he  stood 
contemplating  them  for  a  moment,  and  then  gravely 
walked  to  and  fro  across  the  room,  leaving  me  to  my 
thoughts.  My  emotions  were  stirred  to  their  depths; 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  389 

and  as  I  now  recall  him  standing  at  the  table  at  four 
o'clock  on  that  February  morning,  silently  contemplating 
those  reports,— the  irrefutable  demonstration  of  his  ina 
bility  to  satisfy  the  longings  of  the  Southern  people  for 
independence,— it  seems  to  me  that  no  commander  could 
ever  have  felt  a  greater  burden  than  did  Robert  E.  Lee 
at  that  hour. 

My  sense  of  responsibility  reached  its  climax  when  he 
again  took  his  seat  facing  me  at  the  table,  and  asked  me 
to  state  frankly  what  I  thought  under  those  conditions 
it  was  best  to  do — or  what  duty  to  the  army  and  our 
people  required  of  us.  Looking  at  me  intently,  he 
awaited  my  answer.  I  had  opinions,  and  by  this  time 
they  were  fixed ;  but  I  hesitated  to  express  them,  not 
only  because  of  the  tremendous  importance  of  the  ques 
tion  he  had  propounded,  but  because  I  was  uncertain  of 
General  Lee's  views,  and  it  is  never  agreeable  to  a  junior 
officer  to  maintain  opinions  in  conflict  with  those  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  especially  a  commander  whom  he 
regards,  as  I  did  Lee,  as  almost  infallible  in  such  a 
crisis.  But  I  replied : 

"  General,  it  seems  to  me  there  are  but  three  courses, 
and  I  name  them  in  the  order  in  which  I  think  they 
should  be  tried : 

"  First,  make  terms  with  the  enemy,  the  best  we  can  get. 

"  Second,  if  that  is  not  practicable,  the  best  thing  to  do 
is  to  retreat — abandon  Richmond  and  Petersburg,  unite 
by  rapid  marches  with  General  Johnston  in  North  Caro 
lina,  and  strike  Sherman  before  Grant  can  join  him ;  or, 

"  Lastly,  we  must  fight,  and  without  delay." 

Then  again  there  was  a  period  of  silence,  lasting,  it  is 
true,  but  a  few  moments ;  but  they  were  moments  of 
extreme  anxiety  to  me.  The  question  which  he  then 
asked  only  intensified  my  anxiety.  "Is  that  your 
opinion  ? " 

It  may  have  been  due  to  the  tension  of  my  nerves, 


390   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

but  I  thought  there  was  a  slight  coloring  of  satire  in  his 
words  and  manner;  and  this  wounded  and  nettled  me. 
I  mildly  resented  it  by  reminding  him  that  I  was  there 
at  his  bidding,  that  I  had  answered  his  question  thought 
fully  and  frankly,  that  no  man  was  more  concerned  than 
I  for  the  safety  of  the  army  and  the  welfare  of  our  people, 
and  that  I  felt,  under  the  circumstances,  that  I  also  had 
the  right  to  ask  Ms  opinion.  I  then  discovered  that 
General  Lee's  manner  was  a  method  of  testing  the 
strength  of  my  convictions ;  for  he  replied  in  the  kindest 
and  most  reassuring  manner : 

"Certainly,  general,  you  have  the  right  to  ask  my 
opinion.  I  agree  with  you  fully." 

I  then  asked  him  if  he  had  made  his  views  known  to 
President  Davis  or  to  the  Congress.  He  replied  that  he 
had  not;  that  he  scarcely  felt  authorized  to  suggest 
to  the  civil  authorities  the  advisability  of  making  terms 
with  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

There  was  always  complete  communication  between 
General  Lee  and  the  Confederate  Government  in  regard 
to  military  plans  and  movements ;  but  it  was  evident  that 
he  hesitated  to  advise  or  make  suggestions  as  to  official 
action  by  the  civil  authorities.  Such  expression  of  his 
views  was,  however,  urgently  requested,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  to  him  from  the 
Secretary  of  War,  dated  March  8th : 

My  reflections  on  our  recent  conversations  induce  me  to  re 
quest  that  you  will  give  me  fully  your  VIEWS  on  the  military 
situation.  ...  It  is  my  purpose  to  submit  your  views  ...  to 
the  President  to  be  communicated  by  him  to  the  Congress,  if 
he  shall  think  such  a  course  proper.  ...  I  am  sure  your  state 
ments  and  opinions  will  be  received  with  the  respect  due  to 
your  exalted  character  and  great  services. 

To  this  General  Lee  made  a  characteristic  reply,  from 
which  the  following  is  an  extract : 


THE  LAST  WINTEE  OF  THE  WAR  391 

While  the  military  situation  is  not  favorable,  it  is  not  worse 
than  the  superior  numbers  and  resources  of  the  enemy  justified 
us  in  expecting.  Indeed,  the  legitimate  military  consequences 
of  that  superiority  have  been  postponed  longer  than  we  had 
reason  to  anticipate.  Everything,  in  my  opinion,  has  depended 
and  still  depends  upon  the  dispositions  and  feelings  of  the 
people.  Their  representatives  can  best  decide  how  they  will 
bear  the  difficulties  and  suffering  of  their  condition,  and  how 
they  will  respond  to  the  demands  which  the  public  safety 
requires. 

After  brief  comment  upon  the  first  course  that  had 
been  suggested,  General  Lee  came  to  the  second,  namely, 
the  retreat  and  the  uniting  of  his  forces  with  those  of 
Johnston  in  North  Carolina.  He  said  that  while  he  felt 
sure  that  this  was  the  next  best  thing  to  do,  it  would  be 
attended  with  the  gravest  difficulties ;  that,  in  the  first 
place,  he  doubted  whether  the  authorities  in  Richmond 
would  consent  to  the  movement,  and,  in  the  next  place, 
it  would  probably  be  still  more  difficult  to  get  General 
Grant's  consent ;  but  that  if  both  President  Davis  and 
General  Grant  should  notify  him  that  lie  could  go,  there 
would  still  be  in  his  way  the  deplorable  plight  of  his 
army.  He  dwelt  at  length  upon  it.  Among  other  things, 
he  mentioned  the  fact  that,  in  addition  to  the  starving 
condition  of  his  men,  his  horses  were  dying  from  star 
vation,  and  that  he  could  not  move  one  half  of  his  artil 
lery  and  ammunition  and  supply  trains.  He  added  that 
the  cavalry  horses  were  in  horrid  condition,  and  that  he 
could  not  supply  their  places,  as  the  country  was  ex 
hausted  ;  that  when  a  cavalry  horse  died  or  was  shot,  it 
was  equivalent  to  the  loss  of  both  horse  and  rider,  so  far 
as  that  arm  of  the  service  was  concerned;  whereas 
General  Grant  could  mount  ten  thousand  additional 
horsemen  in  a  few  days  if  he  wished  to  do  so,  and  could 
retard  our  retreat,  vex  our  flanks,  and  cut  off  our  sup 
plies. 


392   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

General  Lee,  like  his  private  soldiers,  had  a  vein  of 
humor  in  him  which  was  rarely  exhibited  except  when  it 
served  some  good  purpose.  It  often  appeared  when  least 
expected,  but  was  always  most  opportune.  While  speak 
ing  of  the  vast  superiority  of  Grant's  numbers  and 
resources  and  his  own  rapidly  accumulating  embarrass 
ments,  he  relaxed  the  tension  for  a  moment  by  saying : 

"  By  the  way,  I  received  a  verbal  message  from  Gen 
eral  Grant  to-day." 

"What  was  it?"  I  asked. 

He  explained  that  General  Grant  had  sent,  under  flag 
of  truce,  a  request  to  cease  firing  long  enough  for  him 
to  bury  his  dead  between  the  picket-lines.  The  officer 
who  bore  the  flag  of  truce  asked  to  be  conducted  to 
army  headquarters,  as  he  had  a  message  to  deliver  to 
General  Lee  in  person.  Arriving  at  headquarters,  he 
received  General  Lee's  courteous  salutations,  and,  hav 
ing  explained  the  nature  of  his  mission,  said :  "  General, 
as  I  left  General  Grant's  tent  this  morning  he  gave  me 
these  instructions :  '  Give  General  Lee  my  personal 
compliments,  and  say  to  him  that  I  keep  in  such  close 
touch  with  him  that  I  know  what  he  eats  for  breakfast 
every  morning.'"  I  asked  General  Lee  what  reply  he 
made.  He  said :  u  I  told  the  officer  to  tell  General 
Grant  that  I  thought  there  must  be  some  mistake  about 
the  latter  part  of  his  message;  for  unless  he  [General 
Grant]  had  fallen  from  grace  since  I  saw  him  last,  he 
would  not  permit  me  to  eat  such  breakfasts  as  mine 
without  dividing  his  with  me."  He  then  added :  "  I 
also  requested  the  officer  to  present  my  compliments  to 
General  Grant,  and  say  to  him  that  I  knew  perhaps  as 
much  about  his  dinners  as  he  knew  about  my  break 
fasts." 

This,  of  course,  meant  that  each  of  the  commanders, 
through  scouts  and  spies,  and  through  such  statements 
as  they  could  extract  from  prisoners  or  deserters,  kept 


THE  LAST  WINTER  OF  THE  WAR  393 

fairly  well  posted  as  to  what  was  transpiring  in  the 
opponent's  camp. 

This  little  diversion  ended,  the  commander  returned 
to  the  discussion  of  the  three  courses  which  the  serious 
situation  presented.  Without  an  explicit  expression  to 
that  effect,  the  entire  trend  of  his  words  led  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  thought  immediate  steps  should  be 
taken  to  secure  peace,  and  before  the  interview  ended 
he  expressed  to  me  his  determination  to  go  to  Richmond. 

It  was  near  sunrise  when  I  left  him  and  rode  back  to 
my  quarters.  On  his  return  from  Richmond,  he  informed 
me  of  the  result  of  his  conferences  with  the  civil  au 
thorities.  Of  President  Davis  he  spoke  in  terms  of  strong 
eulogy:  of  the  strength  of  his  convictions,  of  his  de- 
votedness,  of  his  remarkable  faith  in  the  possibility  of 
still  winning  our  independence,  and  of  his  unconquerable 
will  power ;  and  he  added :  "  You  know  that  the  Presi 
dent  is  very  pertinacious  in  opinion  and  purpose."  Presi 
dent  Davis  did  not  believe  we  could  secure  such  terms 
as  we  could  afford  to  accept,  and  was  indisposed  to  make 
further  effort  after  the  failure  of  the  Hampton  Roads 
conference.  Neither  were  the  authorities  ready  to  evac 
uate  the  capital  and  abandon  our  lines  of  defence,  al 
though  every  railroad  except  the  South  Side  was  already 
broken. 

Paganini,  the  unrivalled  violinist  of  Genoa,  in  one  of 
his  great  exhibitions  is  said  to  have  had  the  strings  of 
his  violin  break,  one  after  another,  until  he  had  but  one 
left.  Undismayed  by  these  serious  mishaps,  and  point 
ing  to  his  dismantled  instrument,  he  proudly  exclaimed 
to  the  audience  that  he  still  had  left,  "One  string  and 
Paganini!"  Jefferson  Davis,  holding  to  the  Confederate 
capital,  notwithstanding  every  line  of  railroad  except 
one  had  been  broken  by  the  enemy,  was  yet  confident, 
and  felt  in  his  heart  that  he  still  had  enough  left  in  the 
"  one  string  and  Lee's  army." 


394   EEMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAE 

Having  heard  the  commander's  report  of  his  inter 
views  in  Richmond,  I  asked : 

"  What,  then,  is  to  be  done,  general  ? " 

He  replied  that  there  seemed  to  be  but  one  thing  that 
we .  could  do  —  fight.  To  stand  still  was  death.  It 
could  only  be  death  if  we  fought  and  failed. 

This  was  the  prelude  to  my  assault  upon  Fort  Sted- 
man  on  March  25,  1865  —  the  last  Confederate  attack  on 
Grant's  lines  at  Petersburg. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN 

In  the  trenches  at  Petersburg— General  Lee's  instructions— A  daring 
plan  formed— Preparations  for  a  night  assault -An  ingenious  war 
ruse— The  fort  captured  with  small  loss— Failure  of  reinforcements 
to  arrive— Loss  of  guides— Necessary  withdrawal  from  the  fort— The 
last  effort  to  break  Grant's  hold. 

LIKE  fires  that  consume  the  dross  and  make  pure  the 
metal,  Confederate  distress  and  extremity  seemed  to 
strengthen  and  ennoble  rather  than  weaken  Confederate 
manhood.  My  hungry  and  debilitated  men  welcomed  with 
a  readiness  intensely  pathetic  the  order  to  break  camp  and 
move  into  the  trenches  at  Petersburg.  Their  buoyancy  of 
spirit  was  in  no  degree  due  to  a  lack  of  appreciation  of 
the  meaning  of  that  night  march.  They  were  not  mere 
machine  soldiers,  moved  by  a  superior  intelligence  to 
which  they  blindly  yielded  obedience.  They  were  thought 
ful  men,  with  naturally  keen  perceptions  sharpened  by 
long  experience  in  actual  war.  They  well  knew  that  the 
order  meant  more  suffering,  more  fighting,  more  slaugh 
ter  ;  yet,  if  their  conduct  and  assurances  are  trustworthy 
witnesses,  these  men  were  prepared  for  any  additional 
sacrifices.  There  was  no  shouting  or  yelling;  but  si 
lently,  quickly,  and  cheerfully  they  folded  their  little 
sheet  tents,  packed  their  frying-pans  and  tin  cups,  and 
were  promptly  in  line,  with  their  knapsacks  on  their 
backs,  their  lean  and  empty  haversacks  on  one  side  and 

395 


396    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

full  cartridge-boxes  on  the  other,  ready  for  the  rapid 
night  march  to  Petersburg,  where  every  bloody  ditch 
and  frowning  fort  was  to  them  a  herald  of  another  deadly 
conflict. 

As  I  now  look  back  to  that  scene  of  busy  preparation 
by  the  dim  light  of  the  camp-fires,  and  recall  the  fact 
that  not  only  the  officers  but  the  intelligent  privates  in 
the  ranks  knew  that  this  hasty  preparation  was  the  pre 
lude  to  perhaps  the  last  desperate  effort  of  Lee's  little 
army  to  break  Grant's  grip  on  the  Confederate  capital, 
the  question  presses  itself  upon  me:  How  can  we  ac 
count  for  such  self-command  and  steadfast  fidelity  in 
the  presence  of  apparently  inevitable  and  overwhelming 
disaster?  An  English  nobleman,  while  placing  his  head 
upon  the  block,  is  said  to  have  indulged  in  jest  at  the 
executioner's  axe ;  but  there  was  no  such  vainglory  in 
the  wonderful  serenity  of  these  thoughtful  men.  To  one 
who  has  experienced  it,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  under 
standing  what  the  Romans  called  the  glory  of  battle ; 
but  that  stimulant  was  entirely  wanting  in  this  case.  It 
is  easy  enough  to  explain  the  mental  intoxication  of  the 
young  Earl  of  Essex,  who,  as  he  sailed  in  to  a  naval  fight, 
threw  his  hat  into  the  sea  in  a  transport  of  martial 
ecstasy.  This  boundless  joy  of  Essex  was  the  presenti 
ment  of  a  coming  triumph,  and  is  no  more  mysterious 
than  the  instinct  of  the  eagle  bending  to  catch  the  roar 
of  the  rising  tempest,  conscious  that  its  wildest  blasts 
will  bear  him  to  higher  and  prouder  flights.  It  is  easy 
enough  to  comprehend  the  enthusiasm  of  these  same 
Confederates  during  the  long  period  when  recurring  bat 
tles  meant  recurring  victories.  Now,  however,  in  the 
last  days  of  the  Confederacy,  and  especially  during  the 
dreary  winter  of  1864-65,  these  conditions  were  all 
changed.  Practically  every  available  man  in  the  South 
was  already  at  the  front,  and  the  inability  to  secure  an 
exchange  of  prisoners  made  it  impossible  to  fill  the  thin- 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN   397 

ning  ranks  of  our  armies.  The  supplies  were  exhausted, 
and  it  was  impracticable  to  give  the  men  sufficient  food. 
Everything  was  exhausted  except  devotion  and  valor. 
The  very  air  we  breathed  was  changed.  There  was  no 
longer  in  it  the  exhilaration  of  victory  with  which  it  had 
been  so  constantly  surcharged  in  past  years.  Yet  in  the 
light  of  their  camp-fires  I  could  see  in  the  faces  of  these 
men  an  expression  of  manly  resolve  almost  equal  to  that 
which  they  had  worn  in  the  days  of  their  brightest  hopes. 
It  is  impossible  to  explain  this  unswerving  purpose  to 
fight  to  the  last,  except  upon  this  one  hypothesis.  They 
felt  that  their  struggle  was  a  defence  of  State,  of  home, 
and  of  liberty;  and  for  these  they  were  ready  to  die. 
The  world's  most  consecrated  martyrs  can  lay  no  higher 
claim  to  immortality. 

General  Lee's  instructions  to  me  were  substantially  as 
follows :  "  Move  your  troops  into  the  works  around  the 
city  as  I  withdraw  one  of  the  other  commands  from  them. 
Make  your  headquarters  in  the  city.  Study  General 
Grant's  works  at  all  points,  consider  carefully  all  plans 
and  possibilities,  and  then  tell  me  what  you  can  do,  if 
anything,  to  help  us  in  our  dilemma." 

The  very  narrow  space  between  Lee's  and  Grant's 
lines,  the  vigilance  of  the  pickets  who  stood  within 
speaking  range  of  each  other,  and  the  heavily  loaded 
guns  which  commanded  every  foot  of  intrenchments, 
made  the  removal  of  one  body  of  troops  and  the  install 
ing  of  another  impracticable  by  daylight  and  quite 
hazardous  even  at  night.  We  moved,  however,  cau 
tiously  through  the  city  to  the  breastworks,  and,  as  the 
other  corps  was  secretly  withdrawn,  my  command  glided 
into  the  vacated  trenches  as  softly  and  noiselessly  as  the 
smooth  flow  of  a  river. 

More  than  a  month  prior  to  this  change,  General  Lee 
wrote  to  the  authorities  at  Richmond,  after  these  men 
had  stood  in  line  for  three  days  and  nights  in  extremely 


398  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

cold  weather :  "  Some  of  the  men  have  been  without 
meat  for  three  days,  and  all  of  them  are  suffering  from 
reduced  rations  and  scant  clothing  while  exposed  to 
battle,  cold,  hail,  and  sleet."  He  also  stated  that  the 
chief  commissary  reported  that  he  had  not  a  pound  of 
meat  at  his  disposal.  General  Lee  added :  "  The  physi 
cal  strength  of  the  men,  if  their  courage  survives,  must 
fail  under  this  treatment."  These  were  the  men  with 
whom  I  was  soon  to  make  a  most  daring  assault,  and 
these  the  conditions  under  which  it  must  be  made. 

The  breastworks  behind  which  stood  the  brave  army 
in  blue  appeared  to  be  as  impenetrable  by  any  force 
which  Lee  could  send  against  them  as  is  a  modern  iron 
clad  to  the  missiles  from  an  ordinary  field  battery :  but 
if  there  was  a  weak  point  in  those  defences,  I  was  ex 
pected  to  find  it.  If  such  a  point  could  be  found,  I  was 
expected  to  submit  to  General  Lee  some  plan  by  which 
it  would  be  feasible,  or  at  least  possible,  for  his  depleted 
army  to  assail  it  successfully. 

Giving  but  few  hours  in  the  twenty-four  to  rest  and 
sleep,  I  labored  day  and  night  at  this  exceedingly  grave 
and  discouraging  problem,  on  the  proper  solution  of 
which  depended  the  commander's  decision  as  to  when 
and  where  he  would  deliver  his  last  blow  for  the  life  of 
the  Confederacy.  My  efficient  staff  — Majors  Moore, 
Hunter,  Dabney,  and  Pace,  and  Captains  Markoe,  Wilmer, 
and  Jones— were  constantly  engaged  gathering  informa 
tion  from  every  possible  source.  The  prisoners  captured 
were  closely  questioned,  and  their  answers  noted  and 
weighed.  Deserters  from  the  Federal  army  added  valu 
able  material  to  the  information  I  was  acquiring. 

The  fact  that  there  were  desertions  from  the  Union  to 
the  Confederate  army  at  this  late  period  of  the  war  is 
difficult  to  understand.  Indeed,  such  desertions  were 
among  those  mysterious  occurrences  which  are  inexplic 
able  on  any  ordinary  hypothesis.  It  was  to  be  expected 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN    399 

that  some  of  the  newly  enlisted  Confederates,  some  of 
those  reluctant  recruits  who  were  induced  to  join  our 
ranks  under  the  persuasive  influence  of  the  Confederate 
Conscript  Law,  should  abandon  us  in  our  extremity; 
but  when  all  the  conditions  pointed  to  certain  and  speedy 
Union  success,  where  can  we  find  impelling  motives 
strong  enough  to  induce  General  Grant's  men  to  desert 
his  overwhelming  forces  and  seek  shelter  with  the 
maimed  and  starving  Confederate  army?  The  bravest 
and  most  loyal  sailors  will  abandon  a  sinking  battle-ship 
and  accept  safety  on  the  deck  of  the  triumphant  vessel 
of  the  enemy.  In  the  case  of  General  Grant's  men,  how 
ever,  this  natural  impulse  seemed  to  be  reversed.  They 
were  not  leaving  a  disabled  ship.  They  were  deserting 
a  mighty  and  increasing  fleet  for  a  place  on  the  deck  of 
an  isolated  and  badly  crippled  man-of-war— one  that 
was  fighting  grandly,  it  is  true,  but  fighting  single-handed, 
almost  hopelessly,  with  its  ammunition  and  supplies 
nearly  exhausted,  its  engines  disabled,  and  its  hull  heavily 
leaking. 

It  required  a  week  of  laborious  examination  and  in 
tense  thought  to  enable  me  to  reach  any  definite  con 
clusion.  Every  rod  of  the  Federal  intrenchments,  every 
fort  and  parapet  on  the  opposing  line  of  breastworks 
and  on  the  commanding  hills  in  rear  of  them,  every 
sunken  path  of  the  pickets  and  every  supporting  division 
of  infantry  behind  the  works,  had  to  be  noted  and  care 
fully  scrutinized.  The  character  of  the  obstructions  in 
front  of  each  portion  of  the  Union  works  had  to  be  crit 
ically  examined  and  an  estimate  made  as  to  the  time  it 
would  require  to  cut  them  away  so  that  my  men  could 
mount  the  breastworks  or  rush  into  the  fort  selected  for 
our  attack.  The  distance  between  the  opposing  works 
and  the  number  of  seconds  or  minutes  it  would  require 
for  my  troops  to  rush  across  were  important  factors  in 
estimating  the  chances  of  success  or  failure,  and  required 


400    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL  WAR 

the  closest  calculation.  The  decision  as  to  the  most 
vulnerable  point  for  attack  involved  two  additional 
questions  of  vital  importance.  The  first  was:  From 
what  point  on  my  own  intrenchments  could  my  assault 
ing  column  rush  forth  on  its  desperate  night  sally,  with 
the  least  probability  of  arousing  the  sleeping  foe! 
The  second  was:  How  many  intervening  ditches  were 
there,  and  of  what  width  and  depth,  over  which  my  men 
were  to  leap  or  into  which  they  might  fall  in  the  perilous 
passage!  All  these  points  considered,  I  decided  that 
Fort  Stedman  on  Grant's  lines  was  the  most  inviting 
point  for  attack  and  Colquitt's  Salient  on  Lee's  lines  the 
proper  place  from  which  to  sally.  This  point  in  our 
lines  took  its  name  from  my  lifelong  friend,  General 
Alfred  Holt  Colquitt  of  Georgia,  whose  memory  will  live 
in  Southern  hearts,  as  fresh  and  green  as  the  fadeless 
verdure  of  the  pines  which  now  grow  upon  the  salient's 
embankment,  striking  their  roots  deep  into  the  earth 
which  was  reddened  by  the  blood  of  his  stalwart 
Georgians.  These  men  stood  and  fought  and  suffered 
there,  commanded  by  this  superb  officer,  who  won  by 
his  brilliant  victory  in  Florida  the  proud  title,  "  Hero  of 
Olustee."  General  Colquitt  lived  long  after  the  war 
closed,  giving  conservative  counsel  to  his  people,  recog 
nized  as  the  friend  of  both  races,  and  serving  with  dis 
tinction  as  governor  of  his  State  and  as  United  States 
senator.  He  died  at  his  post  of  duty  in  Washington 
in  1893. 

The  plan  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Stedman  was  fully 
developed  in  my  own  mind;  and  whether  it  was  good 
or  bad,  the  responsibility  for  it  was  upon  me,  not  be 
cause  there  was  any  indisposition  on  General  Lee's  part 
to  make  a  plan  of  his  own  and  order  its  execution,  but 
because  he  had  called  me  from  the  extreme  right  to  his 
centre  at  Petersburg  for  this  purpose.  With  him  was 
the  final  decision— approval  or  rejection. 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN   401 

As  soon  as  he  was  notified  that  I  was  ready  to  report, 
he  summoned  me  to  his  quarters.  After  such  a  lapse  of 
time  I  cannot  give  General  Lee's  exact  words  in  so 
prolonged  a  conference,  but  the  following  questions  and 
answers  faithfully  represent  the  substance  of  the  inter 
view. 

"  What  can  you  do ! "  he  asked. 

"  I  can  take  Fort  Stedman,  sir." 

"  How,  and  from  what  point  ?  " 

"  By  a  night  assault  from  Colquitt's  Salient,  and  a  sud 
den,  quick  rush  across  ditches,  where  the  enemy's  pick 
ets  are  on  watch,  running  over  the  pickets  and  capturing 
them,  or,  if  they  resist,  using  the  bayonet." 

"But  the  chevaux-de-frise  protecting  your  front  is, 
I  believe,  fastened  together  at  Colquitt's  Salient  with 
chains  and  spikes.  This  obstruction  will  have  to  be 
removed  before  your  column  of  attack  can  pass  out  of 
our  works.  Do  you  think  you  can  remove  these  obstruc 
tions  without  attracting  the  attention  of  Union  pickets 
which  are  only  a  few  rods  away!  You  are  aware  that 
they  are  especially  vigilant  at  night,  and  that  any  un 
usual  noise  on  your  lines  would  cause  them  to  give  the 
alarm,  arousing  their  men  in  the  fort,  who  would  quickly 
turn  loose  upon  you  their  heavy  guns  loaded  with  grape 
and  canister." 

"  This  is  a  serious  difficulty ;  but  I  feel  confident  that 
it  can  be  overcome.  I  propose  to  intrust  the  delicate 
task  of  getting  our  obstructions  removed  to  a  few  select 
men,  who  will  begin  the  work  after  dark,  and,  with  the 
least  possible  noise,  make  a  passageway  for  my  troops 
by  4  A.M.,  at  which  hour  the  sally  is  to  be  made." 

"But  suppose  you  succeed  in  removing  the  obstruc 
tions  in  front  of  your  own  lines  without  attracting  the 
attention  of  General  Grant's  pickets  and  get  your  column 
under  full  headway  and  succeed  in  capturing  or  killing 
the  pickets  before  they  can  give  the  alarm ;  you  will  have 


402    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAI* 

a  still  more  serious  difficulty  to  overcome  when  you 
reach  the  strong  and  closely  built  obstructions  in  front 
of  Fort  Stedman  and  along  the  enemy's  works.  Have 
you  ascertained  how  these  obstructions  are  made  and 
thought  of  any  way  to  get  over  them  or  through  them  I 
You  know  that  a  delay  of  even  a  few  minutes  would 
insure  a  consuming  fire  upon  your  men,  who,  while  halt 
ing,  would  be  immediately  in  front  of  the  heavy  guns  in 
the  fort." 

"I  recognize  fully,  general,  the  force  of  all  you  say ;  but 
let  me  explain.  Through  prisoners  and  deserters  I  have 
learned  during  the  past  week  all  about  the  obstructions 
in  front  of  General  Grant's  lines.  They  are  exceedingly 
formidable.  They  are  made  of  rails,  with  the  lower  ends 
deeply  buried  in  the  ground.  The  upper  ends  are 
sharpened  and  rest  upon  poles,  to  which  they  are  fastened 
by  strong  wires.  These  sharp  points  are  about  breast- 
high,  and  my  men  could  not  possibly  get  over  them. 
They  are  about  six  or  eight  inches  apart ;  and  we  could 
not  get  through  them.  They  are  so  securely  fastened  to 
gether  and  to  the  horizontal  poles  by  the  telegraph  wires 
that  we  could  not  possibly  shove  them  apart  so  as  to 
pass  them.  There  is  but  one  thing  to  do.  They  must 
be  chopped  to  pieces  by  heavy,  quick  blows  with  sharp 
axes.  I  propose  to  select  fifty  brave  and  especially 
robust  and  active  men,  who  will  be  armed  only  with 
axes.  These  axemen  will  rush  across,  closely  followed 
by  my  troops,  and  will  slash  down  a  passage  for  my  men 
almost  at  a  single  blow.  This  stalwart  force  will  rush 
into  the  fort  with  the  head  of  my  column,  and,  if 
necessary,  use  their  axes  instead  of  bayonets  in  any 
hand-to-hand  conflict  inside  the  fort.  I  think  I  can 
promise  you,  general,  that  we  will  go  into  that  fort ;  but 
what  we  are  going  to  do  when  we  get  in  is  the  most 
serious  problem  of  all." 

At  this  point  General  Lee  discussed   and  carefully 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN   403 

considered  every  phase  of  the  hazardous  programme.  He 
expressed  neither  approval  nor  disapproval  ;  but  he 
directed  me  to  explain  fully  the  further  details  of  the 
plan  on  the  supposition  that  by  possibility  we  could  take 
Fort  Stedrnan  and  the  lines  on  each  side  of  it. 

The  purpose  of  the  movement  was  not  simply  the 
capture  of  Fort  Stedman  and  the  breastworks  flanking 
it.  The  prisoners  and  guns  we  might  thus  capture  would 
not  justify  the  peril  of  the  undertaking.  The  tremendous 
possibility  was  the  disintegration  of  the  whole  left  wing 
of  the  Federal  army,  or  at  least  the  dealing  of  such  a 
staggering  blow  upon  it  as  would  disable  it  temporarily, 
enabling  us  to  withdraw  from  Petersburg  in  safety  and 
join  Johnston  in  North  Carolina.  The  capture  of  the 
fort  was  only  the  breasting  of  the  first  wave  in  the 
ocean  of  difficulties  to  be  encountered.  It  was  simply 
the  opening  of  a  road  through  the  wilderness  of  hostile 
works  nearest  to  us  in  order  that  my  corps  and  the 
additional  forces  to  be  sent  me  could  pass  toward  the 
rear  of  Grant's  lines  and  then  turn  upon  his  flanks. 

General  Lee  resumed  his  questions,  saying  in  substance ; 

"Well,  suppose  jou  capture  the  fort,  what  are  you 
going  to  do  with  the  strong  line  of  infantry  in  the  ravine 
behind  the  fort  and  the  three  other  forts  in  the  rear 
which  command  Fort  Stedman  f  Do  you  think  you  can 
carry  those  three  forts  by  assault  after  General  Grant's 
army  has  been  aroused  by  your  movement?" 

"Those  forts,  general,  cannot  be  taken  by  direct 
assault  when  fully  manned,  except  at  great  sacrifice  to 
our  troops.  In  front  of  them  is  a  network  of  abatis 
which  makes  a  direct  advance  upon  them  extremely 
difficult.  There  is,  however,  an  open  space  in  the  rear 
of  them,  and  if  I  can  reach  that  space  in  the  darkness 
with  a  sufficient  number  of  men  to  overpower  the  guards, 
I  can  take  those  three  forts  also,  without  heavy  loss.  I 
suggest  that  we  attempt  their  capture  by  a  legitimate 


404   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

stratagem;  if  that  fails,  then  at  dawn  to  rush  with  all 
the  troops  available  toward  Grant's  left,  meeting  emer 
gencies  as  best  we  can.  To  accomplish  much  by  such  a 
movement,  you  would  have  to  send  me  nearly  or  quite 
one  half  of  your  army.  I  greatly  prefer  to  try  the 
stratagem,  the  success  of  which  depends  on  a  number  of 
contingencies." 

He  asked  me  to  state  fully  each  step  in  the  programme, 
and  I  continued : 

"  During  the  week  of  investigation  I  have  learned  the 
name  of  every  officer  of  rank  in  my  front.  I  propose  to 
select  three  officers  from  my  corps,  who  are  to  command 
each  a  body  of  100  men.  These  officers  are  to  assume 
the  names  of  three  Union  officers  who  are  in  and  near 
Fort  Stedman.  When  I  have  carried  Fort  Stedman, 
each  of  these  selected  officers  is  to  rush  in  the  darkness 
to  the  rear  with  his  100  men,  shouting :  '  The  Rebels 
have  carried  Fort  Stedman  and  our  front  lines ! '  They 
are  to  maintain  no  regular  order,  but  each  body  of  100 
is  to  keep  close  to  its  leader.  As  these  three  officers 
strike  the  line  of  infantry  in  rear  of  the  fort  and  at  dif 
ferent  points,  they  will  be  halted;  but  each  of  them 
will  at  once  represent  himself  as  the  Union  officer  whose 
name  he  bears,  and  is  to  repeat :  i  The  Rebels  have  cap 
tured  our  works,  and  I  am  ordered  by  General  McLaugh- 
lin  to  rush  back  to  the  fort  in  rear  and  hold  it  at  all 
hazards.' 

"  Each  body  of  100  men  will  thus  pass  the  supporting 
line  of  Union  infantry  and  go  to  the  rear  of  the  fort  to 
which  I  will  direct  the  leader.  They  are  to  enter,  over 
power  the  Union  guards,  and  take  possession  of  the  fort. 
Thus  the  three  forts  will  be  captured." 

General  Lee  asked  if  I  thought  my  officers  would  each 
be  able  in  the  darkness  to  find  the  fort  which  he  was 
seeking.  I  replied : 

"  That  depends,  general,  upon  my  ability  to  get  proper 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN   405 

guides.  The  trees  have  been  cut  down,  the  houses  have 
been  burned,  and  the  whole  topography  of  that  portion  of 
the  field  so  changed  that  it  will  require  men  who  are 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  locality  to  act  as  guides. 
I  have  no  such  men  in  my  corps ;  and  without  proper 
guides  my  three  detachments  will  be  sacrificed  after  tak 
ing  Fort  Stedman  and  passing  the  rear  line  of  infantry." 

Again  there  was  a  long  discussion  of  the  chances  and 
the  serious  difficulties  in  this  desperate  adventure.  These 
were  fully  recognized  by  General  Lee,  as  they  had  been 
by  myself  when  the  successive  steps  in  the  undertaking 
were  formulated  in  my  own  mind.  He  said  in  substance : 
"  If  you  think,  after  careful  consideration,  that  you  can 
probably  carry  Fort  Stedman,  and  then  get  your  three 
companies  of  100  through  the  line  of  supporting  infan 
try,  I  will  endeavor  to  find  among  the  Virginia  volun 
teers  three  men  whose  homes  were  on  that  part  of  the 
field  where  the  rear  forts  stand,  to  act  as  guides  to  your 
three  officers.  I  do  not  know  of  such  men  now,  but  will 
at  once  make  search  for  them." 

He  directed  me  to  proceed  with  the  selection  of  my 
men  for  the  different  parts  of  the  programme,  but  not  to 
notify  them  until  he  had  made  search  for  the  guides  and 
had  thought  the  whole  plan  over.  Twenty-four  hours 
later  occurred  the  final  conference  before  the  attack. 
With  the  exception  of  the  last  council  of  war  on  the 
night  before  the  surrender,  I  believe  this  conference  on 
the  night  of  March  23,  1865,  was  the  most  serious  and 
impressive  in  my  experience.  General  Lee  had  thought 
of  all  the  chances:  he  had  found  three  men,  whom  he 
did  not  know  in  person,  but  who  were  recommended  for 
the  three  guides ;  he  had  selected  different  troops  to  send 
me  from  other  corps,  making,  with  mine,  nearly  one  half 
of  his  army,  and  had  decided  that  we  should  make  one 
supreme  effort  to  break  the  cordon  tightening  around 
us.  These  troops  were  to  come  from  Longstreet's  and 


406    KEMINISCENCES   OF   THE  CIVIL  WAB 

A.  P.  HilPs  corps.  A  body  of  cavalry  was  to  be  sent  me, 
which,  in  case  we  succeeded  in  getting  into  the  three 
rear  forts,  was  to  ride  across  the  broken  gap  at  Fort 
Stedman,  and  then  gallop  to  the  rear,  destroy  Grant's 
railroad  and  telegraph  lines,  and  cut  away  his  pontoons 
across  the  river,  while  the  infantry  swept  down  the  rear 
of  the  Union  intrenchments. 

With  full  recognition  by  both  the  commander  and 
myself  of  the  hopelessness  of  our  cause  if  we  waited 
longer  on  General  Grant's  advance,  and  also  of  the  great 
hazard  in  moving  against  him,  the  tremendous  under 
taking  was  ordered. 

All  night  my  troops  were  moving  and  concentrating 
behind  Colquitt's  Salient.  For  hours  Mrs.  Gordon  sat  in 
her  room  in  Petersburg,  tearing  strips  of  white  cloth  to 
tie  across  the  breasts  of  the  leading  detachments,  that 
they  might  recognize  each  other  in  the  darkness  and  in 
the  hand-to-hand  battle  expected  at  the  Federal  breast 
works  and  inside  the  fort. 

The  fifty  heavy  keen-edged  axes  were  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  fifty  brave  and  stalwart  fellows  who  were 
to  lead  the  column  and  hew  down  Grant's  obstructions. 
The  strips  of  white  cloth  were  tied  upon  them,  and  they 
were  ready  for  the  desperate  plunge. 

The  chosen  300,  in  three  companies,  under  the  three 
officers  bearing  names  of  Union  officers,  were  also  be 
decked  with  the  white  cotton  Confederate  scarfs.  To 
each  of  these  companies  was  assigned  one  of  the  three  se 
lected  guides.  I  explained  to  the  300  men  the  nature  of 
their  duties,  and  told  them  that,  in  addition  to  the  joy  it 
would  give  them  to  aid  in  giving  victory  to  the  army,  I 
would  see  to  it,  if  the  three  forts  were  captured,  that  each 
of  them  should  have  a  thirty  days'  furlough  arid  a  silver 
medal.  Although  the  rear  forts  were  not  captured,  the 
failure  was  not  the  fault  of  the  300;  and  even  to  this 
day,  nearly  forty  years  afterward,  I  occasionally  receive 


CAPTUEE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN   407 

applications  for  the  medal,  accompanied  by  the  state 
ment  that  I  need  not  trouble  myself  to  get  the  furlough, 
as  they  received  that  some  days  later  at  Appomattox. 

The  hour  for  the  assault  (4  A.M.)  arrived.  The  column 
of  attack  was  arranged  in  the  following  order :  the  50 
axemen  in  front,  and  immediately  behind  and  close  to 
them  the  selected  300.  Next  came  the  different  com 
mands  of  infantry  who  were  to  move  in  compact  column 
close  behind  the  300,  the  cavalry  being  held  in  reserve 
until  the  way  for  them  was  cleared. 

While  my  preparations  were  progressing  I  received 
from  General  Lee  the  following  note,  which  is  here  given 
because  it  was  written  with  his  own  hand,  and  because 
it  expresses  the  earnest  prayer  for  our  success  which 
came  from  his  burdened  heart,  and  which  he  could  not 
suppress  even  in  this  short  semi-official  communication : 

4  :  30  P.M.  Hd  Qr  (24)  March  '65. 

Genl :  I  have  received  yours  of  2  : 30  P.M.  and  telegraphed  for 
Pickett's  Division,  but  I  do  not  think  it  will  reach  here  in  time. 
Still  we  will  try.  If  you  need  more  troops  one  or  both  of  Heth's 
brigades  can  be  called  to  Colquitt's  Salient  and  Wileox's  to  the 
Baxter  road.  Dispose  of  the  troops  as  needed.  I  pray  that  a 
merciful  God  may  grant  us  success  and  deliver  us  from  our 
enemies.  Yours  truly, 

R,  E.  LEE, 

Genl. 
Genl.  J.  B.  GORDON,  etc. 

P.  S.  The  Cavalry  is  ordered  to  report  to  you  at  Halifax 
road  and  Norfolk  R.R.  Iron  Bridge  at  3  A.M.  tomorrow.  W.  F. 
Lee  to  be  in  vicinity  of  Monk's  corner  Road  at  6  A.M. 

All  things  ready,  at  4  A.M.  I  stood  on  the  top  of  the 
breastworks,  with  no  one  at  my  side  except  a  single 
private  soldier  with  rifle  in  hand,  who  was  to  fire  the 
signal  shot  for  the  headlong  rush.  This  night  charge 
on  the  fort  was  to  be  across  the  intervening  space 


408    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAE 

covered  with  ditches,  in  one  of  which  stood  the  watchful 
Federal  pickets.  There  still  remained  near  my  works 
some  of  the  debris  of  our  obstructions,  which  had  not 
been  completely  removed  and  which  I  feared  might 
retard  the  rapid  exit  of  my  men;  and  I  ordered  it 
cleared  away.  The  noise  made  by  this  removal,  though 
slight,  attracted  the  attention  of  a  Union  picket  who 
stood  on  guard  only  a  few  rods  from  me,  and  he  called 
out: 

"  What  are  you  doing  over  there,  Johnny  ?  What  is 
that  noise  ?  Answer  quick  or  I  '11  shoot." 

The  pickets  of  the  two  armies  were  so  close  together 
at  this  point  that  there  was  an  understanding  between 
them,  either  expressed  or  implied,  that  they  would  not 
shoot  each  other  down  except  when  necessary.  The 
call  of  this  Union  picket  filled  me  with  apprehension. 
I  expected  him  to  fire  and  start  the  entire  picket-line  to 
firing,  thus  giving  the  alarm  to  the  fort,  the  capture 
of  which  depended  largely  upon  the  secrecy  of  my 
movement.  The  quick  mother-wit  of  the  private 
soldier  at  my  side  came  to  my  relief.  In  an  instant 
he  replied : 

"  Never  mind,  Yank.     Lie  down  and  go  to  sleep.     W- 
are  just  gathering  a  little  corn.     You  know  rations  are 
mighty  short  over  here." 

There  was  a  narrow  strip  of  corn  which  the  bullets 
had  not  shot  away  still  standing  between  the  lines. 
The  Union  picket  promptly  answered :  "  All  right, 
Johnny ;  go  ahead  and  get  your  corn.  I  '11  not  shoot  at 
you  while  you  are  drawing  your  rations." 

Such  soldierly  courtesy  was  constantly  illustrated 
between  these  generous  foes,  who  stood  so  close  to  one 
another  in  the  hostile  lines.  The  Rev.  J.  William  Jones. 
D.D.,  now  chaplain-general  of  the  United  Confederate 
Veterans,  when  standing  near  this  same  point  had  his 
hat  carried  away  by  a  gust  of  wind,  and  it  fell  near  the 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT  STEDMAN   409 

Union  lines.  The  loss  of  a  hat  meant  the  loss  to  the 
chaplain  of  nearly  a  month's  pay.  He  turned  away 
sorrowfully,  not  knowing  how  he  could  get  another.  A 
heroic  young  private,  George  Haner  of  Virginia,  said  to 
him :  "  Chaplain,  I  will  get  your  hat."  Taking  a  pole  in 
his  hand,  he  crawled  along  the  ditch  which  led  to  our 
picket-line,  and  began  to  drag  the  hat  in  with  his  pole. 
At  this  moment  a  Yankee  bullet  went  through  the  sleeve 
of  his  jacket.  He  at  once  shouted  to  the  Union  picket : 
"  Hello,  Yank ;  quit  your  foolishness.  I  am  doing  no 
harm.  I  am  just  trying  to  get  the  chaplain's  hat." 
Immediately  the  reply  came :  "  All  right,  Johnny ;  I  '11 
not  shoot  at  you  any  more.  But  you  'd  better  hurry  up 
and  get  it  before  the  next  relief  comes." 

My  troops  stood  in  close  column,  ready  for  the  hazard 
ous  rush  upon  Fort  Stedman.  While  the  fraternal 
dialogue  in  reference  to  drawing  rations  from  the  corn 
field  was  progressing  between  the  Union  picket  and  the 
resourceful  private  at  my  side,  the  last  of  the  obstruc 
tions  in  my  front  were  removed,  and  I  ordered  the 
private  to  fire  the  signal  for  the  assault.  He  pointed 
his  rifle  upward,  with  his  finger  on  the  trigger,  but 
hesitated.  His  conscience  seemed  to  get  hold  of  him. 
He  was  going  into  the  fearful  charge,  and  he  evidently 
did  not  feel  disposed  to  go  into  eternity  with  the  lie  on 
his  lips,  although  it  might  be  a  permissible  war  lie,  by 
which  he  had  thrown  the  Union  picket  off  his  guard. 
He  evidently  felt  that  it  was  hardly  fair  to  take  advan 
tage  of  the  generosity  and  soldierly  sympathy  of  his  foe, 
who  had  so  magnanimously  assured  him  that  he  would 
not  be  shot  while  drawing  his  rations  from  the  little  field 
of  corn.  His  hesitation  surprised  me,  and  I  again  ordered : 
"  Fire  your  gun,  sir."  He  at  once  called  to  his  kind- 
hearted  foe  and  said :  "  Hello,  Yank !  Wake  up ;  we  are 
going  to  shell  the  woods.  Look  out ;  we  are  coming." 
And  with  this  effort  to  satisfy  his  conscience  and  even 


410  REMINISCENCES   OF   THE   CIVIL   WAS 

up  accounts  with  the  Yankee  picket,  he  fired  the  shot 
and  rushed  forward  in  the  darkness. 

As  the  solitary  signal  shot  rang  out  in  the  stillness, 
my  alert  pickets,  who  had  crept  close  to  the  Union 
sentinels,  sprang  like  sinewy  Ajaxes  upon  them  and 
prevented  the  discharge  of  a  single  alarm  shot.  Had 
these  faithful  Union  sentinels  been  permitted  to  fire 
alarm  guns,  my  dense  columns,  while  rushing  upon  the 
fort,  would  have  been  torn  into  fragments  by  the  heavy 
guns.  Simultaneously  with  the  seizing  and  silencing  of 
the  Federal  sentinels,  my  stalwart  axemen  leaped  over 
our  breastworks,  closely  followed  by  the  selected  300  and 
the  packed  column  of  infantry.  Although  it  required 
but  a  few  minutes  to  reach  the  Union  works,  those 
minutes  were  to  me  like  hours  of  suspense  and  breath 
less  anxiety ;  but  soon  w^as  heard  the  thud  of  the  heavy 
axes  as  my  brave  fellows  slashed  down  the  Federal 
obstructions.  The  next  moment  the  infantry  sprang 
upon  the  Union  breastworks  and  into  the  fort,  overpow 
ering  the  gunners  before  their  destructive  charges  could 
be  emptied  into  the  mass  of  Confederates.  They  turned 
this  captured  artillery  upon  the  flanking  lines  on  each 
side  of  the  fort,  clearing  the  Union  breastworks  of  their 
defenders  for  some  distance  in  both  directions.  Up  to 
this  point,  the  success  had  exceeded  my  most  sanguine 
expectations.  We  had  taken  Fort  Stedman  and  a  long 
line  of  breastworks  on  either  side.  We  had  captured 
nine  heavy  cannon,  eleven  mortars,  nearly  1000  pris 
oners,  including  General  McLaughlin,  with  the  loss  of 
less  than  half  a  dozen  men.  One  of  these  fell  upon  the 
works,  pierced  through  the  body  by  a  Federal  bayonet, 
one  of  the  few  men  thus  killed  in  the  four  years  of  war. 
I  was  in  the  fort  myself,  and  relieved  General  McLaugh 
lin  by  assuming  command  of  Fort  Stedman. 

From  the  fort  I  sent  word  to  General  Lee,  who  was  on 
a  hill  in  the  rear,  that  we  were  in  the  works  and  that 


CAPTURE  OF  FOBT  STEDMAN   411 

the  300  were  on  their  way  to  the  lines  in  the  rear.  Soon 
I  received  a  message  from  one  of  these  three  officers,  1 
believe  General  Lewis  of  North  Carolina,  that  he  had 
passed  the  line  of  Federal  infantry  without  trouble  by 

representing  himself  as  Colonel of  the  Hundredth 

Pennsylvania,  but  that  he  could  not  find  his  fort,  as  the 
guide  had  been  lost  in  the  rush  upon  Stedman.  I  soon 
received  a  similar  message  from  the  other  two,  and  so 
notified  General  Lee. 

Daylight  was  coming.  Through  the  failure  of  the 
three  guides,  we  had  failed  to  occupy  the  three  forts  in 
the  rear,  and  they  were  now  filled  with  Federals.  Our 
wretched  railroad  trains  had  broken  down,  and  the 
troops  who  were  coming  to  my  aid  did  not  reach  me. 
The  full  light  of  the  morning  revealed  the  gathering 
forces  of  Grant  and  the  great  preponderance  of  his 
numbers.  It  was  impossible  for  me  to  make  further 
headway  with  my  isolated  corps,  and  General  Lee 
directed  me  to  withdraw.  This  was  not  easily  accom 
plished.  Foiled  by  the  failure  of  the  guides,  deprived 
of  the  great  bodies  of  infantry  which  Lee  ordered  to  my 
support,  I  had  necessarily  stretched  out  my  corps  to 
occupy  the  intrenchments  which  we  had  captured.  The 
other  troops  were  expected  to  arrive  and  join  in  the 
general  advance.  The  breaking  down  of  the  trains  and 
the  non-arrival  of  these  heavy  supports  left  me  to  battle 
alone  with  Grant's  gathering  and  overwhelming  forces, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  draw  in  my  own  lines  toward  Fort 
Stedman.  A  consuming  fire  on  both  flanks  and  front 
during  this  withdrawal  caused  a  heavy  loss  to  my  com 
mand.  I  myself  was  wounded,  but  not  seriously,  in  re- 
crossing  the  space  over  which  we  had  charged  in  the 
darkness.  Among  the  disabled  was  the  gallant  Brigadier- 
General  Philip  Cook  of  Georgia,  who  after  the  war 
represented  his  people  in  the  United  States  Congress. 

When   the  retreat  to  our  own  works  had  ended,  a 


412  EEM1NISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR 

report  reached  me  that  an  entire  Confederate  regiment 
had  not  received  the  order  to  withdraw,  and  was  still 
standing  in  the  Union  breastworks,  bravely  fighting.  It 
was  necessary  to  send  them  orders  or  leave  them  to  their 
fate.  I  called  my  staff  around  me,  and  explained  the 
situation  and  the  extreme  danger  the  officer  would  en 
counter  in  carrying  that  order.  I  stated  to  them  that  the 
pain  I  experienced  in  sending  one  of  them  on  so  perilous 
a  mission  was  greater  than  I  could  express.  Every  one 
of  them  quickly  volunteered  to  go ;  but  Thomas  G.  Jones 
of  Alabama  insisted  that  as  he  was  the  youngest  and  had 
no  special  responsibilities,  it  should  fall  to  his  lot  to 
incur  the  danger.  I  bade  him  good-by  with  earnest 
prayers  that  God  would  protect  him,  and  without  an 
apparent  tremor  he  rode  away.  A  portion  of  the  trip 
was  through  a  literal  furnace  of  fire,  but  he  passed 
through  it,  both  going  and  returning,  without  a  scratch. 
This  last  supreme  effort  to  break  the  hold  of  General 
Grant  upon  Petersburg  and  Richmond  was  the  expiring 
struggle  of  the  Confederate  giant,  whose  strength  was 
nearly  exhausted  and  whose  limbs  were  heavily  shackled 
by  the  most  onerous  conditions.  Lee  knew,  as  we  all 
did,  that  the  chances  against  us  were  as  a  hundred  is  to 
one;  but  we  remembered  how  George  Washington,  with 
his  band  of  ragged  rebels,  had  won  American  indepen 
dence  through  trials  and  sufferings  and  difficulties,  and 
although  they  were  far  less  discouraging  and  insurmount 
able  than  those  around  us,  they  were  nevertheless  many 
and  great.  It  seemed  better,  therefore,  to  take  the  one 
chance,  though  it  might  be  one  in  a  thousand,  rather  than 
to  stand  still  while  the  little  army  was  being  depleted, 
its  vitality  lessening  with  each  setting  sun,  and  its  life 
gradually  ebbing,  while  the  great  army  in  its  front  was 
growing  and  strengthening  day  by  day.  To  wait  was  cer 
tain  destruction :  it  could  not  be  worse  if  we  tried  and 
failed.  The  accidents  and  mishaps  which  checked  the 


CAPTURE  OF  FORT   STEDMAN       413 

brilliant  assault  made  by  my  brave  men,  and  which  ren 
dered  their  further  advance  impossible,  could  not  have 
been  anticipated.  But  for  those  adverse  happenings,  it 
would  seem  that  we  might  have  won  on  that  single 
chance. 

This  spasm  of  Confederate  aggressive  vigor  inaugu 
rated  the  period  of  more  than  two  weeks  of  almost 
incessant  battle,  beginning  on  the  morning  of  March 
25th  with  the  charge  of  my  troops  at  Petersburg,  and 
ending  with  the  last  charge  of  Lee's  army,  made  by  these 
same  men  on  the  morning  of  April  9th  at  Appomattox, 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG 

Religious  spirit  of  the  soldiers  in  extremity—  Some  amusing  anecdote* 
—Fall  of  Five  Forks  — Death  of  General  A.  P.  Hill  — The  line  of  de 
fence  stretched  to  breaking— General  Lee's  order  to  withdraw  from 
Petersburg— Continuous  fighting  during  the  retreat— Stirring  ad 
venture  of  a  Confederate  scout— His  retaliation— Lee  directs  the 
movement  toward  Appomattox. 

PETERSBURG— the  Cockade  City— was  scarcely  less 
noted  than  Richmond  itself  for  its  high  military 
spirit,  its  devotion  to  the  Confederacy,  and  the  extent 
of  its  sacrifices  for  the  Southern  cause.  There  was 
scarcely  a  home  within  its  corporate  limits  that  was 
not  open  to  the  sick  and  wounded  of  Lee's  army.  Its 
patriotic  citizens  denied  themselves  all  luxuries  and 
almost  actual  necessaries  in  order  to  feed  and  strengthen 
the  hungry  fighters  in  the  trenches.  Its  women,  who 
were  noted  for  culture  and  refinement,  became  nurses, 
as  consecrated  as  Florence  Nightingale,  as  they  soothed 
the  sufferings  and  strengthened  the  hopes  of  the  dying 
soldiers.  Now  and  then,  in  the  experiences  of  the  young- 
people,  tfye  subtle  radiance  of  romance  lighted  up  the 
gloom  of  the  hospitals. 

A  beautiful  Southern  girl,  on  her  daily  mission  of 
love  and  mercy,  asked  a  badly  wounded  soldier  boy  what 
she  could  do  for  him.  He  replied :  "  I  'm  greatly  obliged 
to  you,  but  it  is  too  late  for  you  to  do  anything  for  me. 
I  am  so  badly  shot  that  I  can't  live  long." 

414 


EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG      415 

"  Will  you  not  let  me  pray  for  you  ?  I  Lope  that  I  am 
one  of  the  Lord's  daughters,  and  I  would  like  to  ask  Him 
to  help  you." 

Looking  intently  into  her  bewitching  face,  he  replied : 
"  Yes,  pray  at  once,  and  ask  the  Lord  to  let  me  be  His 
son-in-law." 

The  susceptible  young  soldier  had  evidently  received, 
at  this  interview,  another  wound,  which  served  to  con 
vert  his  apprehensions  of  death  into  a  longing  for  do 
mestic  life. 

During  the  two  weeks  following  the  sudden  seizure  of 
Fort  Stedinan  and  its  equally  sudden  release,  my  legs 
were  rarely  out  of  my  long  boots.  For  eight  days 
the  shifting  scenes  and  threatening  demonstrations  on 
my  front,  and  in  front  of  A.  P.  Hill  on  my  right,  kept 
me  on  horseback  until  my  tired  limbs  and  aching  joints 
made  a  constant  appeal  for  rest.  The  corning  of  night 
brought  little  or  no  cessation  of  the  perplexing  and  fa 
tiguing  activities.  Night  after  night  troops  were  march 
ing,  heavy  guns  were  roaring,  picket-lines  were  driven 
in  and  had  to  be  reestablished;  and  the  great  mortars 
from  both  Union  and  Confederate  works  were  hurling 
high  in  the  air  their  ponderous  shells,  which  crossed  each 
other's  paths  arid,  with  burning  fuses,  like  tails  of  flying 
comets,  descended  in  meteoric  showers  on  the  opposing 
intrenchments.  The  breastworks  protecting  the  battle- 
lines  were  so  high  and  broad  that  the  ordinary  cannon- 
balls  and  shells  could  not  penetrate  them  and  reach  the 
soldiers  who  stood  behind  them.  In  order,  therefore,  to 
throw  shells  into  the  ranks  of  the  opposing  army,  these 
mortars  were  introduced.  They  were  short,  big-mouthed 
cannon,  and  were  pointed  upward,  but  leaning  slightly 
toward  the  enemy's  lines,  and  their  great  shells  were 
hurled  skyward,  and  then  came  whirling  down,  exploding 
with  terrific  force  among  the  men  who  stood  or  slept  be 
hind  the  breastworks. 


416    REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

At  a  point  near  where  the  left  of  A.  P.  Hill's  corps 
touched  the  right  of  mine,  a  threatened  attack  brought 
together  for  counsel  a  number  of  officers  from  each  of 
these  commands.  After  this  conference  as  to  the  proper 
disposition  of  troops  for  resisting  the  expected  assault, 
we  withdrew  into  a  small  log  hut  standing  near,  and 
united  in  prayer  to  Almighty  God  for  His  guidance.  As 
we  assembled,  one  of  our  generals  was  riding  within 
hailing  distance,  and  General  Harry  Heth  of  Hill's  corps 
stepped  to  the  door  of  the  log  cabin  and  called  to  him  to 
come  in  and  unite  with  us  in  prayer.  The  officer  did  not 
understand  the  nature  of  General  Heth's  invitation,  and 
replied :  "  No,  thank  you,  general ;  no  more  at  present ; 
I  've  just  had  some." 

This  amusing  incident,  while  it  convulsed  the  small 
assemblage  with  laughter,  did  not  delay  many  moments 
the  earnest  petitions  for  deliverance.  From  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  to  the  privates  in  the  ranks,  there  was  a 
deep  and  sincere  religious  feeling  in  Lee's  army.  When 
ever  it  was  convenient  or  practicable,  these  hungry  but 
unyielding  men  were  holding  prayer-meetings.  Their  sup 
plications  were  fervent  and  often  inspiring,  but  now  and 
then  there  were  irresistibly  amusing  touches.  At  one  of 
these  gatherings  for  prayer  was  a  private  who  had  lost 
one  leg.  Unable  to  kneel,  he  sat  with  bowed  head,  while 
one  of  his  comrades,  whom  we  shall  call  Brother  Jones, 
led  in  prayer.  Brother  Jones  was  earnestly  praying 
for  more  manhood,  more  strength,  and  more  courage. 
The  brave  old  one-legged  Confederate  did  not  like 
Brother  Jones's  prayer.  At  that  period  of  the  war,  he 
felt  that  it  was  almost  absurd  to  be  asking  God  to  give 
the  Confederates  more  courage,  of  which  virtue  they 
already  had  an  abundant  supply.  So  he  called  out  from 
his  seat:  "Hold  on  there,  Brother  Jones.  Don't  you 
know  you  are  praying  all  wrong!  Why  don't  you  pray 
for  more  provisions  ?  We  've  got  more  courage  now  than 
we  have  any  use  for !  " 


EVACUATION   OF  PETERSBURG      417 

This  did  not  occur  in  my  immediate  camp,  but  a  sim 
ilar  incident  did.  In  a  meeting  for  prayer  near  my  head 
quarters,  there  was  more  than  the  usual  impressiveness 
-  more  of  that  peculiar  sadness  which  is  significant  of  a 
brave  despair.  As  in  all  the  religious  gatherings  in  the 
army,  all  denominations  of  Christians  were  represented. 
The  chaplain  who  conducted  the  solemn  services 
asked  a  number  of  officers  and  others  to  lead  in  prayer. 
Among  them,  he  called  upon  a  private  who  belonged  to 
my  sharpshooters,  and  who  had  not  had  the  advan 
tages  of  an  early  education.  This  consecrated  soldier 
knelt  close  by  my  side,  and  with  his  heart  all  aglow  with 
the  spirit  of  the  meeting,  and  his  mind  filled  with  strong 
convictions  as  to  the  justice  of  our  cause,  he  said  in  a  clear, 
ringing  voice :  "  Oh,  Lord,  we  are  having  a  mighty  big 
fight  down  here,  and  a  sight  of  trouble ;  and  we  do  hope, 
Lord,  that  you  will  take  a  proper  view  of  this  subject, 
and  give  us  the  victory." 

As  for  himself,  he  had  no  doubt  as  to  what  a  "proper 
view"  of  the  great  conflict  was.  None  of  them  had. 
While  they  fully  comprehended  the  situation  from  an 
earthly  or  purely  military  point  of  view,  they  hoped  to 
the  last  that  by  some  miraculous  intervention  the  "proper 
view  of  the  subject"  would  ultimately  prevail. 

The  general-in-chief  and  his  corps  commanders  were 
kept  fairly  well  advised  by  our  scouts  as  to  General 
Grant's  preparations  and  movements;  but,  independent 
of  this  direct  intelligence,  there  were  other  indications 
which  could  not  be  misunderstood.  The  roads  were  wet, 
and  hence  no  clouds  of  dust  rose  above  the  the  tree-tops 
to  tell  us  during  the  day  of  Grant's  progress ;  but  at  night 
his  camp-fires  in  the  pines  painted  a  light  on  the  horizon 
near  us  which  admonished  us  that  he  was  marching 
around  our  right  to  seize  the  South  Side  Railroad  and 
force  us  out  of  our  trenches.  Sheridan's  large  bodies  of 
cavalry,  supported  by  infantry,  soon  appeared  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Five  Forks— a  point  from  which  roads 


418  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

led  in  five  directions.  It  was  a  strategic  point  of  such 
importance  to  Lee,  for  either  the  continued  defence  of 
Petersburg  or  the  withdrawal  of  his  army,  that  he  deter 
mined  to  hold  it  until  surrender  was  inevitable.  He, 
therefore,  adopted  the  same  bold,  aggressive  policy 
which  had  so  repeatedly  thwarted  the  flank  movements 
of  his  great  antagonist  on  every  battle-field  from  the 
Wilderness  to  Petersburg.  Withdrawing  all  the  troops 
that  could  be  spared  from  the  trenches,  Lee  hurled  his 
depleted  but  still  resolute  little  army  against  Grant's 
heavy  lines  of  infantry  on  the  march  to  Five  Forks,  and 
drove  back  in  confusion  that  portion  of  the  Federal 
army ;  but  the  small  Confederate  force  there  employed 
was  utterly  inadequate  either  to  press  the  temporary 
advantage  or  to  hold  the  position  it  had  won.  It  was 
quickly  swept  from  the  front  of  the  overpowering  Fed 
erals,  and  the  concentration  upon  Five  Forks  was  accom 
plished.  The  small  force  of  Confederates  which  defended 
it  fought  with  characteristic  courage.  In  the  first  en 
counter  General  Sheridan's  forces  were  repelled  from 
the  breastworks.  But  soon  the  devoted  little  band  of 
gray  was  torn  by  artillery,  harried  by  cavalry,  and  as 
saulted  by  infantry  on  every  side ;  and  the  Confederate 
flags  went  down,  while  their  brave  defenders  were  sur 
rounded  by  a  cordon  of  fire.  Five  Forks  fell,  with  the 
loss  of  large  numbers  of  Confederates  in  killed,  wounded, 
and  prisoners.  Turning  from  Five  Forks  in  the  direction 
of  Petersburg,  the  victorious  Federals  came  upon  the 
flank  and  rear  of  the  defensive  works  around  the  city. 
Longstreet's  corps  had  been  ordered  from  the  lines 
around  Richmond,  but  came  too  late  to  prevent  the  dis 
aster  at  Five  Forks.  It  was  not  too  late,  however,  to 
check  the  flanking  force  of  Federals  marching  upon  the 
city  from  that  direction.  A  part  of  A.  P.  Hill's  corps  was 
formed  at  right  angles  to  the  trenches  and  shared  in  the 
furious  fighting.  That  brilliant  corps-commander  and 


EVACUATION  OF   PETERSBURG      419 

devoted  patriot,  whose  name  was  the  synonym  of  chiv 
alry,  ga\Te  his  life  to  the  cause  he  loved  in  these  last  dark 
honrs  of  the  expiring  Confederacy. 

As  General  Lee  rode  back  toward  Petersburg  from 
Five  Forks,  near  which  he  had  led  in  person  a  brilliant 
and  successful  charge,  he  said  to  one  of  his  aides:  "This 
is  a  sad  business,  colonel."  In  a  few  minutes  he  added : 
"  It  has  happened  as  I  told  them  in  Richmond  it  would 
happen.  The  line  has  been  stretched  until  it  is  broken." 
On  this  melancholy  ride  the  shattered  and  ragged 
remnants  of  his  army,  still  proud,  hopeful,  arid  de 
fiant,  saluted  him  at  every  point  with  shouts  of  wel 
come,  indicating  their  undiminished  admiration  and 
confidence. 

This  was  the  first  day  of  April.  Not  one  day  of  rest 
liad  been  given  these  starving  men  to  recover  from  the 
winter's  trials  and  sufferings,  which  have  been  so  truth 
fully  described  by  the  graphic  pen  of  Dr.  Henry  Alexan 
der  White : 

Winter  poured  down  its  snows  and  its  sleets  upon  Lee's  shel 
terless  men  in  the  trenches.  Some  of  them  burrowed  into  the 
earth.  Most  of  them  shivered  over  the  feeble  fires,  kept  burn 
ing  along  the  lines.  Scanty  and  thin  were  the  garments  of 
these  heroes.  Most  of  them  were  clad  in  mere  rags.  Gaunt 
famine  oppressed  them  every  hour.  One  quarter  of  a  pound  of 
rancid  bacon  and  a  little  meal  was  the  daily  portion  assigned  to 
each  man  by  the  rules  of  the  War  Department.  But  even  this 
allowance  failed  when  the  railroads  broke  down  and  left  the 
bacon  and  the  flour  and  the  meal  piled  up  beside  the  tracks  in 
Georgia  and  the  Carolinas.  One  sixth  of  this  daily  ration  was 
the  allotment  for  a  considerable  time,  and  very  often  the  supply 
of  bacon  failed  entirely.  .  .  .  With  dauntless  hearts  these  gaunt- 
faced  men  endured  the  almost  ceaseless  fire  of  Grant's  mortar- 
batteries.  The  frozen  fingers  of  Lee's  army  of  sharpshooters 
clutched  the  musket  barrel  with  an  aim  so  steady  that  Grant's 
men  scarcely  ever  lifted  their  heads  from  their  bomb-proofs. 


420   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

These  men— less  than  40,000  in  number— had  held  for 
many  months  a  battle-line  forty  miles  long,  stretching 
from  the  Chickahominy  to  Hatcher's  Run.  My  own 
corps  was  stretched  until  the  men  stood  like  a  row  of 
vedettes,  fifteen  feet  apart,  in  the  trenches.  Portions  of 
my  line— it  was  not  a  line ;  it  was  the  mere  skeleton  of 
a  line — had  been  broken  by  assaults  at  daybreak  on 
April  2.  There  were  no  troops— not  a  man— in  reserve 
to  help  us;  but  no  extremity  appalled  my  grim  and 
gaunt-visaged  fighters.  At  the  command  they  assem 
bled  at  double  quick  in  more  compact  lines  around  those 
points  which  had  been  seized  and  were  still  held  by  the 
Federals,  densely  packed  in  the  captured  intrenchments. 
By  desperate  charges,  one  after  another  of  these  breaches 
in  my  line  was  restored,  until  but  one  remained  in  pos 
session  of  the  enemy.  I  was  in  the  act  of  concentrating 
for  a  supreme  effort  to  restore  this  last  breach,  when 
Colonel  Charles  Marshall  of  G-eneral  Lee's  staff  reached 
me  with  a  message  from  the  commander-in-chief.  It 
was  to  admonish  me  of  the  dire  disaster  at  Five  Forks 
on  the  extreme  right  flank  of  our  army,  of  the  approach 
of  the  triumphant  and  overwhelming  Union  forces  in 
rear  of  our  defences,  of  the  forced  abandonment  by  A. 
P.  Hill  of  his  works,  and  of  the  death  of  that  superb 
officer.  In  the  face  of  this  almost  complete  crushing  of 
every  command  defending  the  entire  length  of  our  lines 
on  my  right,  the  restoration  of  the  remaining  breach  in 
my  front  could  contribute  nothing  toward  the  rescue  of 
Lee's  army.  He,  therefore,  directed  that  I  sacrifice  no 
more  men  in  the  effort  to  recover  entire  control  of  my 
works,  but  that  I  maintain  my  compact  line  around  this 
last  breach,  prevent,  if  possible,  Grant's  effort  to  send 
through  it  his  forces  into  the  city,  and  at  any  sacrifice 
hold  my  position  until  night,  and  until  all  the  other  com 
mands  could  be  withdrawn.  When  this  withdrawal  had 
been  accomplished,  my  command  was  to  silently  evacuate 


EVACUATION   OF  PETERSBURG      421 

Petersburg,  and  cover  the  retreat  of  Lee's  brave  but 
shattered  little  army. 

The  indomitable  spirit  of  my  men  was  never  more 
strikingly  shown  than  in  their  cheerful  response  to  this 
command.  I  feel  constrained  at  this  point  to  place  upon 
record  the  fact  that  these  were  the  same  men  who 
scarcely  one  week  before  had  made  the  daring  plunge  in 
the  darkness  which  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Fort 
Stedman  and  its  flanking  lines ;  the  same  men  who  on 
the  first  day  at  Gettysburg  had  turned  the  tide  of  battle ; 
who  at  sunset  on  the  6th  of  May,  in  the  Wilderness,  had 
carried  dismay  to  the  right  flank  of  the  Federal  army ; 
who  at  Spottsylvania  had  made  the  furious  counter 
charge  under  the  eye  of  Lee ;  who  at  Cedar  Creek  had 
rushed  upon  Sheridan's  left  with  resistless  momentum, 
and  to  whom  I  have  endeavored  to  do  but  simple  justice 
in  my  account  of  the  oscillating  fortunes  of  the  two 
armies  on  that  field.  They  were  the  men  whose  record 
will  brighten  for  all  time  every  page  of  the  history  of 
that  immortal  army  which  a  knightly  and  able  Federal 
soldier  has  pronounced"  the  best  which  has  existed  on  this 
continent."  In  a  paper  read  before  the  Military  Histori 
cal  Society  of  Massachusetts,  General  Charles  A.  Whittier 
of  the  Union  army  says : 

The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  will  deservedly  rank  as  the 
best  which  has  existed  on  this  continent.  Suffering  privations 
unknown  to  its  opponents,  it  fought  well  from  the  early  Penin 
sula  days  to  the  surrender  of  that  small  remnant  at  Appomattox. 
It  seemed  always  ready,  active,  mobile.  Without  doubt,  it  was 
composed  of  the  best  men  of  the  South,  rushing  to  what  they 
considered  the  defence  of  their  country  against  a  bitter  invader; 
and  they  took  the  places  assigned  them,  officer  or  private,  and 
fought  until  beaten  by  superiority  of  numbers.  The  North  sent 
no  such  army  to  the  field,  and  its  patriotism  was  of  easier  char 
acter,  etc. 

In  the  same  historical  paper  General  Whittier  says : 


422   KEMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

As  a  matter  of  comparison,  we  have  lately  read  that  from 
William  and  Mary  College,  Virginia,  thirty-two  out  of  thirty-five 
professors  and  instructors  abandoned  the  college  work  and  joined 
the  army  in  the  field.  Harvard  College  sent  one  professor  from 
its  large  corps  of  professors  and  instructors. 

In  every  Southern  State  the  universities  and  colleges 
sent  to  the  front  their  students  and  the  flower  of  their 
alumni  as  volunteers.  It  is  stated  that  nine  tenths  of  the 
students  of  the  University  of  Virginia  enlisted  for  the  war. 
In  the  Rockbridge  battery  there  were  seven  masters  of 
arts  of  the  university,  twenty-eight  college  graduates,  and 
twenty-five  theological  students.  Among  these  privates 
was  R.  E.  Lee,  Jr.,  son  of  the  great  commander. 

On  my  staff  as  volunteer  aide  was  Professor  Basil  A. 
Gildersleeve  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  now  of  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  Dr.  Gildersleeve  has  no  superior 
in  the  country  as  a  Greek  scholar,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  our  classical  writers.  He  was  a 
most  efficient  officer,  and  exhibited  in  extreme  peril  a 
high  order  of  courage  and  composure.  While  bearing 
an  order  in  battle  he  was  desperately  wounded  and 
maimed  for  life. 

These  and  many  similar  facts  which  could  be  given  de 
monstrate  the  justice  of  General  Whittier's  estimate. 

General  Grant,  in  this  last  movement  upon  our  lines  at 
Petersburg,  hurled  against  us  his  army  of  124,000 l  brave 
and  superbly  equipped  soldiers.  To  resist  them  General 
Lee  could  then  bring  into  line  about  35,000  worn  and 
wan  but  consecrated  fighters.  Possibly  one  half  of  these 
had  been,  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  April,  killed,  wounded,  and 
captured,  or  the  commands  to  which  they  belonged  had 
been  so  broken  to  pieces  as  to  eliminate  them  from  the 
effective  forces.  There  was  no  hope  for  us  except  in 
retreat. 

i  These  figures  are  taken  from  the  l '  Confederate  Military  History,"  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  531. 


EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG      423 

Under  orders  from  the  general-in-chief,  the  old  corps 
of  Stonewall  Jackson,  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  com 
mand,  was  the  last  of  his  army  to  abandon  forever  those 
mortar-battered  lines  of  defence  around  Petersburg. 
After  the  hour  of  midnight,  when  all  other  troops  were 
safely  on  the  march  to  the  rear,  the  Second  Army  Corps 
silently  and  sadly  withdrew  from  the  blood-stained 
trenches  in  which  Lee's  peerless  army  had  exhibited  for 
nine  weary  months  a  patience  in  suffering,  a  steadfast 
ness  under  discouraging  conditions,  and  a  strength  in 
resistance  unexampled  in  war. 

As  the  last  broken  file  of  that  matchless  army  stepped 
from  the  bridge  and  my  pioneer  corps  lighted  the  flames 
that  consumed  it,  there  came  to  me  a  vivid  and  depress 
ing  realization  of  the  meaning  of  the  appalling  tragedy 
of  the  last  two  days.  The  breaking  of  Lee's  power  had 
shattered  the  last  hope  of  Southern  independence.  But 
another  burden — a  personal  woe — was  weighing  upon 
me.  I  had  left  behind  me  in  that  city  of  gloom  the  wife 
who  had  followed  me  during  the  entire  war.  She  was 
ill.  But  as  I  rode  away  from  Petersburg  during  the  dis 
mal  hours  of  that  night,  I  found  comfort  in  the  hope  that 
some  chivalric  soldier  of  the  Union  army  would  learn  of 
her  presence  and  guard  her  home  against  all  intruders. 
My  confidence  in  American  manhood  was  not  misplaced. 

To  bring  up  the  rear  and  adequately  protect  the 
retreating  army  was  an  impossible  task.  With  charac 
teristic  vigor  General  Grant  pressed  the  pursuit.  Soon 
began  the  continuous  and  final  battle.  Fighting  all  day, 
marching  all  night,  with  exhaustion  and  hunger  claiming 
their  victims  at  every  mile  of  the  march,  with  charges 
of  infantry  in  rear  and  of  cavalry  on  the  flanks,  it  seemed 
the  war  god  had  turned  loose  all  his  furies  to  revel  in 
havoc.  On  and  on,  hour  after  hour,  from  hilltop  to  hill 
top,  the  lines  were  alternately  forming,  fighting,  and 
retreating,  making  one  almost  continuous  shifting  battle. 


424   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Here,  in  one  direction,  a  battery  of  artillery  became 
involved  5  there,  in  another,  a  blocked  ammunition  train 
required  rescue :  and  thus  came  short  but  sharp  little 
battles  which  made  up  the  side  shows  of  the  main  per 
formance,  while  the  different  divisions  of  Lee's  lion- 
hearted  army  were  being  broken  and  scattered  or 
captured.  Out  of  one  of  these  whirlwinds  there  came 
running  at  the  top  of  his  speed  a  boy  soldier  whose  wit 
flashed  out  even  in  that  dire  extremity.  When  asked 
why  he  was  running,  he  shouted  back : 

"  Golly,  captain,  I  'm  running  'cause  I  can't  fly !  " 

On  the  night  of  the  6th  of  April,  three  days  before 
the  final  surrender,  my  superb  scout,  young  George  of 
Virginia,  who  recently  died  in  Danville,  greatly  honored 
and  loved  by  his  people,  brought  to  me  under  guard  two 
soldiers  dressed  in  full  Confederate  uniform,  whom  he 
had  arrested  on  suspicion,  believing  that  they  belonged 
to  the  enemy.  About  two  months  prior  to  this  arrest  I 
had  sent  George  out  of  Petersburg  on  a  most  perilous 
mission.  All  of  his  scouting  was  full  of  peril.  I  directed 
him  to  go  in  the  rear  of  General  Grant's  lines,  to  get  as  close 
as  he  could  to  the  general's  headquarters,  and,  if  possible, 
catch  some  one  with  despatches,  or  in  some  way  bring 
me  reliable  information  as  to  what  was  being  done  by 
the  Union  commander.  George  was  remarkably  con 
scientious,  intelligent,  and  accurate  in  his  reports.  He 
always  wore  his  Confederate  gray  jacket,  which  would 
protect  him  from  the  penalty  of  death  as  a  spy  if  he 
should  be  captured.  But  he  also  wore,  when  on  his 
scouting  expeditions,  a  pale  blue  overcoat  captured  from 
the  Union  army.  A  great  many  of  our  soldiers  wore 
these  overcoats  because  they  had  no  others. 

On  this  particular  expedition  George  was  hidiDg  in 
the  woods  not  far  from  General  Grant's  headquarters, 
when  he  saw  passing  near  him  two  men  in  Confederate 
uniform.  It  was  late  in  the  evening,  nearly  dark.  He 


EVACUATION  OF  PETERSBURG      425 

at  once  made  himself  known  to  them,  supposing  that 
they  were  scouting  for  some  other  corps  in  Lee's  army. 
But  they  were  Sheridan's  men,  belonging  to  his  "Jessie 
scouts,"  and  they  instantly  drew  their  revolvers  upon 
George  and  marched  him  to  General  Grant's  head 
quarters.  He  was  closely  questioned  by  the  Union  com 
mander  ;  but  he  was  too  intelligent  to  make  any  mistakes 
in  his  answers.  He  showed  his  gray  jacket,  which  saved 
him  from  execution  as  a  spy,  and  he  was  placed  in  the 
guard-house.  His  opportunity  for  escape  came  late  one 
night,  when  he  found  a  new  recruit  on  guard  at  his 
prison  door.  This  newly  enlisted  soldier  was  a  foreigner, 
and  had  very  little  knowledge  of  the  English  language ; 
but  he  knew  what  a  twenty-dollar  gold  piece  was.  The 
Confederacy  did  not  have  much  gold,  but  our  scouts 
were  kept  supplied  with  it.  George  pulled  out  of  the 
lining  of  his  jacket  the  gold  piece,  placed  it  in  the 
foreigner's  hand,  turned  the  fellow's  back  to  the  door, 
and  walked  quickly  out  of  the  guard-house.  George 
would  not  have  dared  to  attempt  such  a  programme  with 
an  American  on  guard. 

He  reached  our  lines,  and  reported  these  details  only 
a  few  days  before  our  last  retreat  was  begun.  During 
that  retreat  on  the  night  of  April  6,  1865,  as  I  rode 
among  my  men,  he  brought  two  soldiers  under  guard  to 
me,  and  said :  "  General,  here  are  two  men  who  are 
wearing  our  uniforms  arid  say  they  belong  to  Fitzhugh 
Lee's  cavalry ;  but  I  believe  they  are  Yankees.  I  had 
them  placed  under  guard  for  you  to  examine." 

I  questioned  the  men  closely,  and  could  find  no  suffi 
cient  ground  for  George's  suspicions.  They  seemed 
entirely  self-possessed  and  at  ease  under  my  rigid  exam 
ination.  They  gave  me  the  names  of  Fitzhugh  Lee's 
regimental  and  company  commanders,  said  they  be 
longed  to  a  certain  mess,  and  gave  the  names  of  the 
members,  and,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  gave 


426    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

prompt  answer  to  every  question  I  asked.  I  said  to 
George  that  they  seemed  to  me  all  right ;  but  he  pro 
tested,  saying :  "  No,  general,  they  are  not  all  right.  I 
saw  them  by  the  starlight  counting  your  files."  One  of 
them  at  once  said :  "  Yes ;  we  were  trying  to  get  some 
idea  of  your  force.  We  have  been  at  home  on  sick-leave 
for  a  long  time,  and  wanted  to  know  if  we  had  any  army 
left."  This  struck  me  as  a  little  suspicious,  arid  I 
pounded  them  again  with  questions.  "  You  say  that  you 
have  been  home  on  sick-leave  ? " 

"Yes,  sir;  we  have  been  at  home  several  weeks,  and 
fell  in  with  your  command  to-night,  hoping  that  you 
could  tell  us  how  to  get  to  General  Fitzhugh  Lee's 
cavalry." 

"If  you  have  been  at  home  sick,  you  ought  to  have 
your  furloughs  with  you." 

"We  have,  sir.  We  have  our  furlough  papers  here  in 
our  pockets,  signed  by  our  own  officers,  and  approved 
by  General  R.  E.  Lee.  If  we  had  a  light  you  could 
examine  them  and  see  that  they  are  all  right." 

George,  who  was  listening  to  this  conversation,  which 
occurred  while  we  were  riding,  again  insisted  that  it  did 
not  matter  what  these  men  said  or  what  they  had ;  they 
were  Yankees.  I  directed  that  they  be  brought  on 
under  guard  until  I  could  examine  their  papers. 

We  soon  came  to  a  burning  log  heap  on  the  roadside, 
which  had  been  kindled  by  some  of  the  troops  who  had 
passed  at  an  earlier  hour  of  the  night.  The  moment  the 
full  light  fell  upon  their  faces,  George  exclaimed :  "  Gen 
eral,  these  are  the  two  men  who  captured  me  nearly 
two  months  ago  behind  General  Grant's  headquarters." 

They  ridiculed  the  suggestion,  and  at  once  drew  from 
their  pockets  the  furloughs.  These  papers  seemed  to  be 
correct,  and  the  signatures  of  the  officers,  including  that 
of  General  Lee,  seemed  to  be  genuine.  This  evidence 
did  not  yet  satisfy  George  nor  shake  his  convictions. 


EVACUATION   OF   PETERSBURG      427 

He  said  that  the  signatures  of  our  officers  were  forged, 
or  these  men  had  captured  some  of  our  men  who  had 
furloughs,  and  had  taken  the  papers  from  them,  and  were 
now  personating  the  real  owners.  He  asked  me  to  make 
them  dismount,  that  he  might  "  go  through  them,"  as  he 
described  his  proposed  search.  He  fingered  every  seam 
in  their  coats,  took  off  their  cavalry  sabres,  and  searched 
their  garments,  but  found  nothing.  At  last  he  asked  me 
to  make  them  sit  down  and  let  him  pull  off  their  boots. 
One  personated  a  Confederate  private;  the  other  wore 
the  uniform  of  a  lieutenant  of  cavalry.  George  drew 
the  boots  from  the  lieutenant's  feet,  and  under  the  lin 
ing  of  one  he  found  an  order  from  General  Grant  to 
General  Ord,  directing  the  latter  to  move  rapidly  by  cer 
tain  roads  and  cut  off  Lee's  retreat  at  Appomattox.  As 
soon  as  this  order  was  found,  the  young  soldier  admitted 
the  truth  of  George's  statement — that  they  were  the  two 
men  who  captured  him  behind  Grant's  lines.  I  said  to 
them  :  "  Well,  you  know  your  fate.  Under  the  laws  of 
war  you  have  forfeited  your  lives  by  wearing  this  uni 
form,  and  I  shall  have  you  shot  at  sunrise  to-morrow 
morning." 

They  received  this  announcement  without  the  slightest 
appearance  of  nervousness.  The  elder  could  not  have 
been  more  than  nineteen  or  twenty  years  of  age,  while 
his  companion  was  a  beardless  youth.  One  of  them  said 
with  perfect  composure :  "  General,  we  understand  it  all. 
We  knew  when  we  entered  this  kind  of  service,  and  put 
on  these  uniforms,  that  we  were  taking  our  lives  in  our 
hands,  and  that  we  should  be  executed  if  we  were  cap 
tured.  You  have  the  right  to  have  us  shot ;  but  the  war 
can't  last  much  longer,  and  it  would  do  you  no  good  to 
have  us  killed." 

I  had  no  thought  of  having  them  executed,  but  I  did 
not  tell  them  so.  I  sent  the  captured  order  to  General 
Lee,  and  at  four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  7th  he 


428  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

wrote  me  in  pencil  a  note  which  was  preserved  by  my 
chief  of  staff,  Major  R.  W.  Hunter,  now  of  Alexandria, 
Virginia.  It  was  sent,  a  few  years  ago,  to  Mrs.  Gordon, 
to  be  kept  by  her  as  a  memento  of  this  most  remarkable 
incident.  Unhappily,  it  was  lost  in  the  fire  which,  in 
1899,  consumed  my  home.  In  that  brief  note,  General 
Lee  directed  me  to  march  by  certain  roads  toward  Appo- 
mattox  as  rapidly  as  the  physical  condition  of  my  men 
would  permit.  Thus,  by  General  Lee's  direction,  my 
command  was  thrown  to  the  front,  that  we  might  thwart, 
if  possible,  the  purpose  of  the  Union  commander  to 
check  at  Appomattox  our  retrograde  movement. 

General  Lee  approved  my  suggestion  to  spare  the  lives 
of  Sheridan's  captured  "  Jessie  scouts,"  and  directed  me 
to  bring  them  along  with  my  command.  This  incident 
closed  with  my  delivery  of  the  young  soldiers  to  General 
Sheridan  on  the  morning  of  Lee's  surrender. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

THE  SUKRENDER 

The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  reduced  to  a  skeleton— General  Lee'i 
calm  bearing— The  last  Confederate  council  of  war— Decision  upon 
a  final  attempt  to  break  Grant's  lines— The  last  charge  of  the  war- 
Union  breastworks  carried — A  fruitless  victory — Flag  of  truce  sent 
to  General  Ord— Conference  with  General  Sheridan— An  armistice. 

BEFORE  reaching  the  end  of  our  journey,  which  termi 
nated  abruptly  at  the  little  village  of  Appomattox,  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia  had  become  the  mere  skele 
ton  of  its  former  self.  At  Sailor's  Creek,  Anderson's 
corps  was  broken  and  destroyed,  and  General  Ewell,  with 
almost  his  entire  command,  was  captured,  as  was  Gen 
eral  Kershaw,  General  Custis  Lee,  son  of  the  general- 
in-chief,  and  other  prominent  officers.  I  had  discovered 
the  movement  threatening  Ewell,  and  had  sought  to 
apprise  him  of  his  danger  and  to  aid  in  his  escape ; 
but  my  own  command  was  assailed  at  almost  the  same 
instant,  and  was  precipitated  into  a  short  but  strenuous 
battle  for  its  own  safety.  The  advance  of  Grant's  army 
struck  Ewell  upon  one  road  and  my  command  upon  an 
other  almost  simultaneously.  Rushing  through  the 
broad  gap  between  Ewell  and  myself,  the  heavy  Federal 
force  soon  surrounded  the  command  of  that  brave  old 
one-legged  hero,  and  forced  him  to  surrender.  Another 
Union  column  struck  my  command  while  we  were  en 
deavoring  to  push  the  ponderous  wagon-trains  through 
the  bog,  out  of  which  the  starved  teams  were  unable  to 

429 


430  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

drag  them.  Many  of  these  wagons,  loaded  with  ammu 
nition,  mired  so  deep  in  the  mud  that  they  had  to  be 
abandoned.  It  was  necessary  to  charge  and  force  back 
the  Union  lines  in  order  to  rescue  my  men  from  this 
perilous  position.  Indeed,  not  only  was  my  command 
in  almost  incessant  battle  as  we  covered  the  retreat,  but 
every  portion  of  our  marching  column  was  being  assailed 
by  Grant's  cavalry  and  infantry.  The  roads  and  fields 
and  woods  swarmed  with  eager  pursuers,  and  Lee  now 
and  then  was  forced  to  halt  his  whole  army,  reduced  to 
less  than  10,000  fighters,  in  order  to  meet  these  simul 
taneous  attacks.  Various  divisions  along  the  line  of 
march  turned  upon  the  Federals,  and  in  each  case 
checked  them  long  enough  for  some  other  Confederate 
commands  to  move  on.  Mahone's  infantry  and  Fitzhugh 
Lee's  cavalry  were  engaged  far  in  advance.  The  latter 
command  captured  General  Gregg,  who,  with  other 
prisoners,  joined  our  retreat.  I  observed  General  Gregg 
marching  on  foot,  and  asked  him  to  accept  a  mount,  as 
he  was  not  accustomed  to  travelling  as  an  infantry  sol 
dier.  He  expressed  appreciation  of  the  offer,  but  de 
clined,  preferring  to  share  the  fate  of  his  men. 

General  Lee  was  riding  everywhere  and  watching 
everything,  encouraging  his  brave  men  by  his  calm  and 
cheerful  bearing.  He  was  often  exposed  to  great  danger 
from  shells  and  bullets;  but,  in  answer  to  protests,  his 
reply  was  that  he  was  obliged  to  see  for  himself  what 
was  going  on.  As  he  sat  on  his  horse  near  Farmville 
during  a  sharp  engagement,  watching  the  effect  of  the 
fire  from  one  of  our  batteries  which  was  playing  upon 
the  enemy,  a  staff  officer  rode  up  to  him  with  a  message. 
The  general  noticed  that  this  officer  had  exposed  him 
self  unnecessarily  in  approaching  him,  and  he  repri 
manded  the  young  soldier  for  not  riding  on  the  side  of 
the  hill  where  he  would  be  protected  from  the  enemy's 
fire.  The  young  officer  replied  that  he  would  be 


THE   SURRENDER  431 

ashamed  to  seek  protection  while  the  commanding  gen 
eral  was  so  exposing  himself.  General  Lee  sharply  re 
plied  :  "  It  is  my  duty  to  be  here.  Go  back  the  way  I 
told  you,  sir." 

Thus  the  great  chieftain  was  teaching  by  example  the 
lesson  of  devotion  to  duty  at  any  risk,  and  teaching  by 
precept  that  noblest  of  lessons,  unselfish  consideration 
for  others. 

This  was  no  new  phase  of  his  soldier  life.  It  was  not 
an  exhibition  of  attributes  developed  by  the  trying  con 
ditions  around  him.  It  was  simply  a  natural  expression 
of  the  spirit  that  made  him  great  and  good.  Many  inci 
dents  in  his  army  career  illustrate  the  same  elements  of 
character.  At  some  point  below  Richmond,  he  was 
standing  near  a  battery,  when  the  men  crowded  around 
him,  evidencing  their  admiration  and  affection.  The 
group  grew  so  large  as  to  attract  the  enemy's  attention, 
and  drew  a  heavy  fire;  whereupon  the  general  said  to 
the  privates  around  him :  "  Men,  you  had  better  go  back 
to  your  places.  They  are  firing  at  this  point,  and  you 
are  exposing  yourselves  to  unnecessary  danger."  Ho 
remained  there  himself  for  some  minutes,  and  then,  as 
he  walked  quietly  away,  he  picked  up  a  small  object  and 
placed  it  on  the  limb  of  a  tree.  It  was  afterward  ascer 
tained  that  it  was  an  unfledged  sparrow  that  had  fallen 
from  its  nest. 

In  the  "Wilderness,  at  Spottsylvania,  and  along  the 
lines  at  Petersburg,  he  exposed  himself  whenever  and 
wherever  his  presence  seemed  needful.  The  protests  of 
his  officers  and  soldiers  against  this  habit  were  so  fre 
quent  that  he  said  on  one  occasion,  half  humorously, 
half  complainingly :  "  I  do  wish  somebody  would  tell 
me  where  my  place  is  on  the  field  of  battle ;  wherever  I 
go  to  look  after  the  fight,  I  am  told, '  This  is  no  place  for 
you;  you  must  go  away.'" 

General   Benjamin    Butterworth    of    Ohio    ("Honest 


432    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Ben,"  as  he  was  familarly  called  during  his  service  as 
member  of  Congress  from  the  Buckeye  State)  gave  me, 
after  the  war,  an  account  of  an  incident  occurring  on  this 
final  retreat  which  was  both  pathetic  and  amusing.  It  il 
lustrates  that  remarkable  and  unique  phase  of  the  great 
struggle,  the  feeling  of  genuine  comradeship,  which 
existed  between  the  soldiers  of  the  hostile  armies.  On 
that  doleful  retreat  of  Lee's  army,  it  was  impossible  for 
us  to  bury  our  dead  or  carry  with  us  the  disabled 
wounded.  There  was  no  longer  any  room  in  the 
crowded  ambulances  which  had  escaped  capture  and 
still  accompanied  our  trains.  We  could  do  nothing  for 
the  unfortunate  sufferers  who  were  too  severely 
wounded  to  march,  except  leave  them  on  the  roadside 
with  canteens  of  water.  A  big-hearted  soldier-boy  in 
blue  came  across  a  desperately  wounded  Confederate 
shot  through  legs  and  body,  lying  in  his  bloody  bed  of 
leaves,  groaning  with  pain  and  sighing  for  relief  in 
death.  The  generous  Federal  was  so  moved  by  the  har 
rowing  spectacle  that  he  stopped  at  the  side  of  the  Con 
federate  and  asked :  "  What  can  I  do  for  you,  Johnny  ? 
I  want  to  help  you  if  I  can." 

"  Thank  you  for  your  sympathy,"  the  sufferer  replied , 
"  but  no  one  can  help  me  now.  It  will  not  be  long  till 
death  relieves  me." 

The  Union  soldier  bade  him  good-by,  and  was  in  the 
act  of  leaving,  when  the  wounded  Southerner  called  to 
him :  "  Yes,  Yank ;  there  is  something  you  might  do  for 
me.  You  might  pray  for  me  before  you  go." 

This  Union  boy  had  probably  never  uttered  aloud  a 
word  of  prayer  in  all  his  life.  But  his  emotions  were 
deeply  stirred,  and  through  his  tears  he  looked  around 
for  some  one  more  accustomed  to  lead  in  prayer.  Dis 
covering  some  of  his  comrades  passing,  he  called  to 
them :  "  Come  here,  boys,  and  come  quick.  Here  is  a 
poor  Johnny  shot  all  to  pieces,  and  he  's  dying.  One 


THE   SURRENDER  433 

of  you  must  come  and  pray  for  him.  He  wants  me  to 
pray  for  him ;  but  you  know  I  can't  pray  worth  a  -  — ." 
Two  days  before  the  surrender,  a  number  of  officers 
held  a  council  as  to  what  was  best  to  be  done.  I  was 
not  present,  but  I  learned  through  others  that  three 
propositions  were  discussed : 

1.  To  disband  and  allow  the  troops  to  get  away  as 
best  they  could,  and  reform  at  some  designated  point. 

This  was  abandoned  because  a  dispersion  over  the 
country  would  be  a  dreadful  infliction  upon  our  impov 
erished  people,  and  because  it  was  most  improbable  that 
all  the  men  would  reach  the  rallying-point. 

2.  To  abandon  all  trains,  and  concentrate  the  entire 
Confederate  army  in  a  compact  body,  and  cut  through 
Grant's  lines. 

This  proposition  was  in  turn  discarded,  because  with 
out  ammunition  trains  we  could  not  hope  to  continue 
the  struggle  many  days. 

3.  To  surrender  at  once. 

It  was  decided  that  this  last  course  would  be  wisest, 
and  these  devoted  officers  felt  that  they  should  do  all  in 
their  power  to  relieve  General  Lee  by  giving  him  their 
moral  support  in  taking  the  step.  General  Grant  had 
not  then  written  his  first  note  to  Lee,  asking  surrender. 
General  Pendleton,  who  was  the  Confederate  chief  of 
artillery,  and  a  close  personal  friend  of  the  commander, 
was  selected  by  the  council  to  acquaint  him  with  the 
result  of  its  deliberations.  General  Pendleton  gave  a 
most  graphic  description  of  his  interview  with  General 
Lee.  He  said  that  the  general-in-chief  instantly  replied : 

"  Oh,  no.  I  trust  it  has  not  come  to  that.  We  have  too 
many  bold  men  to  think  of  laying  down  our  arms." 

General  Pendleton  related  that  the  general  referred  to 
the  beginning  of  the  Southern  struggle  for  independence, 
and  said,  in  substance,  that  he  had  never  believed  that, 
with  the  vast  power  against  us,  we  could  win  our  inde- 


434    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

pendence  unless  we  were  aided  by  foreign  powers.  "  But," 
added  General  Lee,  "  such  considerations  really  made  no 
difference  with  me."  And  then  he  uttered  those  memorable 
words:  "We  had,  I  was  satisfied,  sacred  principles  to 
maintain  and  rights  to  defend,  for  which  we  were  in 
duty  bound  to  do  our  best,  even  if  we  perished  in  the 
endeavor." 

This  great  soldier  understood  the  spirit  which  led  the 
officers  in  that  conference  to  recommend  his  surrender. 
He  knew  their  devotion  to  the  cause  and  their  devotion 
to  him,  but  he  was  not  ready  to  consider  the  necessity 
for  surrender.  He  doubtless  had  this  conference  in  mind 
later,  when  he  perpetrated  upon  General  Wise  the  joke 
which  General  Long  has  recorded.  General  Wise,  in  the 
absence  of  either  basin  or  towel,  had  washed  his  face  in 
a  pool  of  water  impregnated  with  red  clay.  The  water 
dried,  leaving  the  red  stains  on  his  countenance.  Gen 
eral  Lee  was  much  amused  at  the  grotesque  appearance 
of  Wise,  and  saluted  him  as  he  approached : 

"  Good  morning,  General  Wise.  I  perceive  that  you,  at 
any  rate,  have  not  given  up  the  contest,  as  you  are  in 
your  war-paint  this  morning." 

In  his  report  written  three  days  after  the  surrender, 
and  addressed  to  "  His  Excellency,  Jefferson  Davis," 
General  Lee  states  that  when  we  reached  Appomattox 
his  army  had  been  "  reduced  to  two  corps  under  Long- 
street  and  Gordon."  He  also  says  in  that  report :  "  On 
the  morning  of  the  9th,  according  to  the  reports  of  the 
ordnance  officers,  there  were  7892  organized  infantry  with 
arms." 

On  the  evening  of  April  8th,  this  little  army,  with 
its  ammunition  nearly  exhausted,  was  confronted  by  the 
forces  of  General  Grant,  which  had  been  thrown  across 
our  line  of  retreat  at  Appomattox.  Then  came  the  last 
sad  Confederate  council  of  war.  It  was  called  by  Lee  to 
meet  at  night.  It  met  in  the  woods  at  his  headquarters 


THE   SURRENDER  435 

and  by  a  low-burning  bivouac-fire.  There  was  no  tent 
there,  no  table,  no  chairs,  and  no  camp-stools.  On 
blankets  spread  upon  the  ground  or  on  saddles  at  the 
roots  of  the  trees,  we  sat  around  the  great  commander. 
A  painter's  brush  might  transfer  to  canvas  the  physical 
features  of  that  scene,  but  no  tongue  or  pen  will  ever  be 
able  to  describe  the  unutterable  anguish  of  Lee's  com 
manders  as  they  looked  into  the  clouded  face  of  their 
beloved  leader  and  sought  to  draw  from  it  some  ray  of 
hope. 

There  were  present  at  this  final  council  the  general- 
in-chief ,  the  commander  of  his  artillery,  General  Pendle- 
ton ;  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  who  in  the  absence  of  Wade 
Hampton  commanded  the  cavalry,  and  General  Long- 
street  and  myself,  commanding  all  that  was  left  of  his 
immortal  infantry.  These  fragments  of  each  arm  of 
the  service  still  represented  the  consecration  and  courage 
that  had  made  Lee's  army,  at  the  meridian  of  its  power, 
almost  invincible. 

The  numbers  and  names  of  the  staff  officers  who  were 
present  I  cannot  now  recall ;  and  it  would  be  as  impos 
sible  to  give  the  words  that  were  spoken  or  the  sug 
gestions  that  were  made  as  it  would  to  photograph  the 
thoughts  and  emotions  of  that  soldier  group  gathered  at 
Lee's  last  bivouac.  The  letters  of  General  Grant  asking 
surrender,  and  the  replies  thereto,  evoked  a  discussion  as 
to  the  fate  of  the  Southern  people  and  the  condition  in 
which  the  failure  of  our  cause  would  leave  them.  There 
was  also  some  discussion  as  to  the  possibility  of  forcing 
a  passage  through  Grant's  lines  and  saving  a  small  por 
tion  of  the  army,  and  continuing  a  desultory  warfare 
until  the  government  at  Washington  should  grow  weary 
and  grant  to  our  people  peace,  and  the  safeguards  of 
local  self-government.  If  all  that  was  said  and  felt  at 
that  meeting  could  be  given  it  would  make  a  volume  of 
measureless  pathos.  In  no  hour  of  the  great  war  did 


436   REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

General  Lee's  masterful  characteristics  appear  to  me  so 
conspicuous  as  they  did  in  that  last  council.  We  knew 
by  our  own  aching  hearts  that  his  was  breaking.  Yet 
he  commanded  himself,  and  stood  calmly  facing  and  dis 
cussing  the  long-dreaded  inevitable. 

It  was  finally  determined  that  with  Fitz  Lee's  cavalry, 
my  infantry,  and  Long's  artillery,  under  Colonel  Thomas 
H.  Carter,  we  should  attempt  at  daylight  the  next  morn 
ing  to  cut  through  Grant's  lines.  Longstreet  was  to 
follow  in  support  of  the  movement. 

The  utmost  that  could  be  hoped  for  was  that  we  might 
reach  the  mountains  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee  with  a 
remnant  of  the  army,  and  ultimately  join  General  John 
ston.  As  we  rode  away  from  the  meeting  I  directed  a 
staff  officer  to  return  'to  General  Lee  and  ask  him  if  he 
had  any  specific  directions  as  to  where  I  should  halt  and 
camp  for  the  night.  He  said :  "  Yes ;  tell  General  Gordon 
that  I  should  be  glad  for  him  to  halt  just  beyond  the 
Tennessee  line."  That  line  was  about  two  hundred  miles 
away,  and  Grant's  battle-lines  and  breastworks  were  in 
our  immediate  front,  ready  to  check  any  movement  in 
that  direction ;  but  General  Lee  knew  that  I  would  inter 
pret  his  facetious  message  exactly  as  he  intended  it. 
His  purpose  was  to  let  me  infer  that  there  was  little 
hope  of  our  escape  and  that  it  did  not  matter  where  I 
camped  for  the  night ;  but  if  we  should  succeed  in  cut 
ting  our  way  out,  he  expected  me  to  press  toward  the 
goal  in  the  mountains. 

The  Federals  had  constructed  a  line  of  breastworks 
across  our  front  during  the  night.  The  audacious  move 
ment  of  our  troops  was  begun  at  dawn.  The  dashing 
cavalry  leader,  Fitzhugh  Lee,  swept  around  the  Union 
left  flank,  while  the  infantry  and  artillery  attacked  the 
front.  I  take  especial  pride  in  recording  the  fact  that  this 
last  charge  of  the  war  was  made  by  the  footsore  and 
starving  men  of  my  command  with  a  spirit  worthy  thtJ 


THE   SURRENDER  437 

best  days  of  Lee's  army.  The  Union  breastworks  were 
carried.  Two  pieces  of  artillery  were  captured.  The 
Federals  were  driven  from  all  that  portion  of  the  field, 
and  the  brave  boys  in  tattered  gray  cheered  as  their 
battle-flags  waved  in  triumph  on  that  last  morning. 

The  Confederate  battle-lines  were  still  advancing  when 
I  discovered  a  heavy  column  of  Union  infantry  coming 
from  the  right  and  upon  my  rear.  I  gathered  around  me 
my  sharpshooters,  who  were  now  held  for  such  emer 
gencies,  and  directed  Colonel  Thomas  H.  Carter  of  the 
artillery  to  turn  all  his  guns  upon  the  advancing  column. 
It  was  held  at  bay  by  his  shrapnel,  grape,  and  canister. 
While  the  Confederate  infantry  and  cavalry  were  thus 
fighting  at  the  front,  and  the  artillery  was  checking  the 
development  of  Federal  forces  around  my  right  and  rear, 
Longstreet  was  assailed  by  other  portions  of  the  Federal 
army.  He  was  so  hardly  pressed  that  he  could  not  join, 
as  contemplated,  in  the  effort  to  break  the  cordon  of  men 
and  metal  around  us.  At  this  critical  juncture  a  column 
of  Union  cavalry  appeared  on  the  hills  to  my  left,  headed 
for  the  broad  space  between  Longstreet's  command  and 
mine.  In  a  few  minutes  that  body  of  Federal  cavalry 
would  not  only  have  seized  the  trains  but  cut  off  all 
communication  between  the  two  wings  of  Lee's  army 
and  rendered  its  capture  inevitable.  I  therefore  de 
tached  a  brigade  to  double-quick  and  intercept  this  Fed 
eral  force. 

Such  was  the  situation,  its  phases  rapidly  shifting  and 
growing  more  intensely  thrilling  at  each  moment,  when 
I  received  a  significant  inquiry  from  G-eneral  Lee.  It 
was  borne  by  Colonel  Charles  S.  Venable  of  his  staff, 
afterward  the  chairman  of  the  faculty  of  the  University 
of  Virginia.  The  commander  wished  me  to  report  at 
once  as  to  the  conditions  on  my  portion  of  the  field,  what 
progress  I  was  making,  and  what  encouragement  I  could 
give,  I  said:  "Tell  General  Lee  that  my  command  has 


438    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAE 

been  fought  to  a  frazzle,  and  unless  Longstreet  can  unite 
in  the  movement,  or  prevent  these  forces  from  coming 
upon  my  rear,  I  cannot  long  go  forward."  Colonel 
Venable  has  left  on  record  this  statement : 

"At  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  that  fatal  day, 
General  Lee  rode  forward,  still  hoping  that  we  might 
break  through  the  countless  hordes  of  the  enemy  who 
hemmed  us  in.  Halting  a  short  distance  in  rear  of  our 
vanguard,  he  sent  me  on  to  General  Gordon  to  ask  him  if 
he  could  cut  through  the  enemy.  I  found  General 
Gordon  and  General  Fitz  Lee  on  their  front  line  in  the 
light  of  the  morning,  arranging  an  attack.  Gordon's 
reply  to  the  message  (I  give  the  expressive  phrase  of  the 
Georgian)  was  this :  'Tell  General  Lee  I  have  fought  my 
corps  to  a  frazzle,  and  I  fear  I  can  do  nothing  unless  I 
am  heavily  supported  by  Longstreet's  corps.' " 

Colonel  Y enable  adds  that  when  General  Lee  received 
my  message,  he  said:  " There  is  nothing  left  me  but 
to  go  and  see  General  Grant,  and  I  had  rather  die  a 
thousand  deaths." 

My  troops  were  still  fighting,  furiously  fighting  in 
nearly  every  direction,  when  the  final  note  from  General 
Lee  reached  me.  It  notified  me  that  there  was  a  flag  of 
truce  between  General  Grant  and  himself,  stopping  hos 
tilities,  and  that  I  could  communicate  that  fact  to  the 
commander  of  the  Union  forces  in  my  front.  There 
was  no  unnecessary  delay  in  sending  that  message.  I 
called  Colonel  Green  Peyton  of  my  staff,  and  directed 
him  to  take  a  flag  of  truce  and  bear  the  message  to 
General  Ord,  who  commanded,  as  I  supposed,  the  Union 
infantry  in  my  front.  I  ordered  him  to  say  to  the 
Union  commander  this,  and  nothing  more :  "  General 
Gordon  has  received  notice  from  General  Lee  of  a  flag 
of  truce,  stopping  the  battle."  Colonel  Peyton  soon  in 
formed  me  that  we  had  no  flag  of  truce.  I  said :  "  Well, 
take  your  handkerchief  and  tie  that  on  a  stick,  and  go," 


THE   SURRENDER  439 

He  felt  in  his  pockets  and  said:  "General,  I  have  no 
handkerchief." 

"  Then  tear  your  shirt,  sir,  and  tie  that  to  a  stick." 

He  looked  at  his  shirt,  and  then  at  mine,  and  said : 

"General,  I  have  on  a  flannel  shirt,  and  I  see  you 
have.  I  don't  believe  there  is  a  white  shirt  in  the  army." 

"  Get  something,  sir,"  I  ordered.  "  Get  something  and 
go!" 

He  secured  a  rag  of  some  sort,  and  rode  rapidly 
away  in  search  of  General  Ord.  He  did  not  find  Ord, 
but  he  found  Sheridan,  and  returned  to  me  accompanied 
by  an  officer  of  strikingly  picturesque  appearance.  This 
Union  officer  was  slender  and  graceful,  and  a  superb 
rider.  He  wore  his  hair  very  long,  falling  almost  to  his 
shoulders.  Guided  by  my  staff  officer,  he  galloped  to 
where  I  was  sitting  on  my  horse,  and,  with  faultless 
grace  and  courtesy,  saluted  me  with  his  sabre  and  said : 

"I  am  General  Ouster,  and  bear  a  message  to  you 
from  General  Sheridan.  The  general  desires  me  to 
present  to  you  his  compliments,  and  to  demand  the  im 
mediate  and  unconditional  surrender  of  all  the  troops 
under  your  command.  I  replied:  "You  will  please, 
general,  return  my  compliments  to  General  Sheridan, 
and  say  to  him  that  I  shall  not  surrender  my  command." 

"  He  directs  me  to  say  to  you,  general,  if  there  is  any 
hesitation  about  your  surrender,  that  he  has  you  sur 
rounded  and  can  annihilate  your  command  in  an  hour." 

To  this  I  answered  that  I  was  probably  as  well  aware 
of  my  situation  as  was  General  Sheridan ;  that  I  had 
nothing  to  add  to  my  message  informing  him  of  the 
contents  of  the  note  from  General  Lee;  that  if  General 
Sheridan  decided  to  continue  the  fighting  in  the  face  of 
the  flag  of  truce,  the  responsibility  for  the  blood  shed 
would  be  his  and  not  mine. 

In  a  short  time  thereafter  a  white  flag  was  seen  ap 
proaching.  Under  it  was  Philip  Sheridan,  accompanied 


440   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE  CIVIL  WAE 

by  a  mounted  escort  almost  as  large  as  one  of  Fitz  Lee's 
regiments.  Sheridan  was  mounted  on  an  enormous 
horse,  a  very  handsome  animal.  He  rode  in  front  of 
the  escort,  and  an  orderly  carrying  the  flag  rode  beside 
him.  Around  me  at  the  time  were  my  faithful  sharp 
shooters,  and  as  General  Sheridan  and  his  escort  came 
within  easy  range  of  the  rifles,  a  half-witted  fellow  raised 
his  gun  as  if  to  fire.  I  ordered  him  to  lower  his  gun, 
and  explained  that  he  must  not  fire  on  a  flag  of  truce. 
He  did  not  obey  my  order  cheerfully,  but  held  his  rifle 
in  position  to  be  quickly  thrown  to  his  shoulder.  In 
fact,  he  was  again  in  the  act  of  raising  his  gun  to  fire  at 
Sheridan,  when  I  caught  the  gun  and  said  to  him,  with 
emphasis,  that  he  must  not  shoot  men  under  flag  of 
truce.  He  at  once  protested:  "Well,  general,  let  him 
stay  on  his  own  side." 

I  did  not  tell  General  Sheridan  of  his  narrow  escape. 
Had  he  known  the  facts,— that  this  weak-minded  but 
strong-hearted  Confederate  private  was  one  of  the  dead 
liest  of  marksmen,— he  probably  would  have  realized  that 
I  had  saved  his  life. 

Meantime  another  member  of  my  staff,  Major  E.  W. 
Hunter  of  Virginia,  had  ridden  off  with  General  Custer, 
who  asked  to  be  guided  to  Longstreet's  position.  As 
General  Sheridan,  with  the  flag  of  truce,  came  nearer,  I 
rode  out  to  meet  him.  Between  General  Sheridan  and 
myself  occurred  another  controversy  very  similar  to  the 
one  I  had  had  previously  with  General  Custer.  No  mes 
sage  from  General  Grant  in  reference  to  the  truce  between 
the  commanders-in-chief  had  reached  General  Sheridan. 
It  had  miscarried.  But  upon  my  exhibiting  to  him  the 
note  from  Lee,  he  at  once  proposed  that  the  firing  cease 
and  that  our  respective  lines  be  withdrawn  to  certain 
positions,  while  we  waited  further  intelligence  from  the 
commanders  of  the  two  armies.  Our  respective  staff 
officers  were  despatched  to  inaugurate  this  temporary 


THE   SURRENDER  441 

armistice,  and  Sheridan  and  I  dismounted  and  sat  to 
gether  on  the  ground. 

Quickly  the  firing  was  stopped  and  silence  reigned  on 
the  field.  But  I  had  forgotten  the  brigade  which  I  had 
sent  far  off  to  my  left  to  check  the  movement  of  Union 
cavalry,  and  as  General  Sheridan  and  I  sat  and  con 
versed,  a  sudden  roll  of  musketry  was  heard  from  that 
quarter.  General  Sheridan  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
fiercely  asked :  "  What  does  that  mean,  sir  ? "  I  replied : 
"  It  is  my  fault,  general.  I  had  forgotten  that  brigade. 
But  let  me  stop  the  firing  first,  and  then  I  will  explain." 

I  called  for  a  member  of  my  staff  to  ride  with  all  speed 
to  that  brigade.  None  of  my  staff  was  there.  They 
had  not  returned  from  executing  my  previous  orders. 
General  Sheridan  proposed  to  lend  me  one  of  his  staff. 
I  accepted  the  offer ;  and  it  so  happened  that  a  Union 
officer,  Captain  Vanderbilt  Allen,  bore  the  last  order  to 
my  troops,  directing  them  to  cease  firing,  thus  practically 
ending  the  four  years  of  battle  for  Southern  indepen 
dence.  It  was  necessary,  however,  to  protect  Captain 
Allen  from  the  fire  of  my  men  or  from  their  demand  for 
his  surrender.  For  this  purpose  I  sent  with  him  as  guide 
and  protector  one  of  my  ragged  privates.  That  private 
had  belonged  to  the  old  Stonewall  Brigade. 

I  had  never  seen  General  Sheridan  before,  nor  received 
from  those  who  knew  him  any  definite  impressions  of 
him  as  man  or  soldier.  I  had  seen  something  of  his  work 
in  the  latter  capacity  during  the  campaigns  in  the  Valley 
of  Virginia.  His  destruction  of  barns  and  mills  and 
farming  implements  impressed  me  as  in  conflict  with 
the  laws  of  war  and  inconsistent  with  the  enlightened, 
Christian  sentiment  of  the  age,  and  had  prepared  me  in 
a  measure  for  his  somewhat  brusque  manners.  Truth 
demands  that  I  say  of  General  Sheridan  that  his  style  of 
conversation  and  general  bearing,  while  never  discour 
teous,  were  far  less  agreeable  and  pleasing  than  those  of 


442    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

any  other  officer  of  the  Union  army  whom  it  was  my 
fortune  to  meet.  I  do  not  recall  a  word  he  said  which  I 
could  regard  as  in  any  degree  offensive,  but  there  was  an 
absence  of  that  delicacy  and  consideration  which  was 
exhibited  by  other  Union  officers. 

General  Sheridan  began  the  conversation  after  we 
had  dismounted  by  saying,  in  substance :  "  We  have  met 
before,  I  believe,  at  Winchester  and  Cedar  Creek  in  the 
Valley." 

I  replied  that  I  was  there,  and  he  continued :  "  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  receiving  some  artillery  from  your  Gov 
ernment,  consigned  to  me  through  your  commander, 
General  Early." 

He  referred,  of  course,  to  the  piece  on  which  the  Con 
federate  wag  had  painted  in  white  letters  the  words 
given  in  a  former  chapter.  There  was  nothing  offensive 
in  that ;  but  I  thought  there  was  in  his  manner  a  slight 
tinge  of  exultation  which  was  not  altogether  pleasing, 
and  I  replied : 

"  That  is  true ;  and  I  have  this  morning  received  from 
your  government  artillery  consigned  to  me  through 
General  Sheridan." 

He  evidently  did  not  know  that  within  the  previous 
hour  we  had  captured  some  of  his  artillery,  and  he  was 
reluctant  to  believe  it. 

The  meeting  of  Lee  and  Grant,  and  the  impressive 
formalities  which  followed,  put  an  end  to  the  interview, 
and  we  parted  without  the  slightest  breach  of  strict  mili 
tary  courtesy. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

THE   END   OF   THE   WAR 

Appomattox—  25,000  men  surrender—  Only  8000  able  to  bear  arms- 
Uniform  courtesy  of  the  victorious  Federals—  A  salute  for  the 
vanquished—  What  Lincoln  might  have  done—  General  Sherman's 
liberal  terms  to  Johnston—  An  estimate  of  General  Lee  and  Gen 
eral  Grant  —  The  war  and  the  reunited  country. 


ENERAL  LONGSTREET'S  forces  and  mine  at  Ap- 
pomattox,  numbered,  together,  less  than  8000  men  ; 
but  every  man  able  to  bear  arms  was  still  resolute  and 
ready  for  battle.  There  were  present  three  times  that 
many  enrolled  Confederates;  but  two  thirds  of  them 
were  so  enfeebled  by  hunger,  so  wasted  by  sickness,  and 
so  foot-sore  from  constant  marching  that  it  was  difficult 
for  them  to  keep  up  with  the  army.  They  were  wholly 
unfit  for  duty.  It  is  important  to  note  this  fact  as  explain 
ing  the  great  difference  in  the  number  of  those  who 
fought  and  those  who  were  to  be  fed.  At  the  final  meet 
ing  between  General  Lee  and  General  Grant  rations  were 
ordered  by  General  Grant  for  25,000  Confederates. 

Marked  consideration  and  courtesy  were  exhibited  at 
Appomattox  by  the  victorious  Federals,  from  the  com 
manding  generals  to  the  privates  in  the  ranks.  General 
Meade,  who  had  known  General  Lee  in  the  old  army, 
paid,  after  the  surrender,  an  unofficial  visit  to  the  Con 
federate  chieftain.  After  cordial  salutations,  General 
Lee  said  playfully  to  his  former  comrade  in  arms  that 
years  were  telling  upon  him.  General  Meade,  who  had 

443 


444    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

fought  Lee  at  Gettysburg  and  in  many  subsequent 
battles,  made  the  strikingly  gracious  and  magnanimous 
answer :  "  Not  years,  but  General  Lee  himself  has  made 
me  gray." 

Some  of  the  scenes  on  the  field,  immediately  after  the 
cessation  of  hostilities  and  prior  to  the  formal  surrender, 
illustrate  the  same  magnanimous  spirit,  and  were 
peculiarly  impressive  and  thrilling.  As  my  command, 
in  worn-out  shoes  and  ragged  uniforms,  but  with  proud 
mien,  moved  to  the  designated  point  to  stack  their  arms 
and  surrender  their  cherished  battle-flags,  they  challenged 
the  admiration  of  the  brave  victors.  One  of  the  knight- 
liest  soldiers  of  the  Federal  army,  General  Joshua  L. 
Chamberlain  of  Maine,  who  afterward  served  with  dis 
tinction  as  governor  of  his  State,  called  his  troops  into 
line,  and  as  my  men  marched  in  front  of  them,  the 
veterans  in  blue  gave  a  soldierly  salute  to  those 
vanquished  heroes  —  a  token  of  respect  from  Americans 
to  Americans,  a  final  and  fitting  tribute  from  Northern 
to  Southern  chivalry. 

General  Chamberlain  describes  this  incident  in  the 
following  words : 

At  the  sound  of  that  machine-like  snap  of  arms,  General 
Gordon  started,  caught  in  a  moment  its  significance,  and  in 
stantly  assumed  the  finest  attitude  of  a  soldier.  He  wheeled 
his  horse,  facing  me,  touching  him  gently  with  the  spur,  so  that 
the  animal  slightly  reared,  and,  as  lie  wheeled,  horse  and  rider 
made  one  motion,  the  horse's  head  swung  down  with  a  graceful 
bow,  and  General  Gordon  dropped  his  sword-point  to  his  toe  in 
salutation. 

By  word  of  mouth  the  general  sent  back  orders  to  the  rear 
that  his  own  troops  take  the  same  position  of  the  manual  in  the 
march  past  as  did  our  line.  That  was  done,  and  a  truly  im 
posing  sight  was  the  mutual  salutation  and  farewell. 

Bayonets  were  affixed  to  muskets,  arms  stacked,  and  car 
tridge-boxes  unslung  and  hung  upon  the  stacks.  Then,  slowly 


THE   END    OF  THE  WAR  445 

and  with  a  reluctance  that  was  appealingly  pathetic,  the  torn 
and  tattered  battle-flags  were  either  leaned  against  the  stacks 
or  laid  upon  the  ground.  The  emotion  of  the  conquered 
soldiery  was  really  sad  to  witness.  Some  of  the  men  who  had 
carried  and  followed  those  ragged  standards  through  the  four 
long  years  of  strife  rushed,  regardless  of  all  discipline,  from 
the  ranks,  bent  about  their  old  flags,  and  pressed  them  to  their 
lips. 

And  it  can  well  be  imagined,  too,  that  there  was  no  lack  of 
emotion  on  our  side,  but  the  Union  men  were  held  steady  in 
their  lines,  without  the  least  show  of  demonstration  by  word  or 
by  motion.  There  was,  though,  a  twitching  of  the  muscles  of 
their  faces,  and,  be  it  said,  their  battle-bronzed  cheeks  were  not 
altogether  dry.  Our  men  felt  the  import  of  the  occasion,  and 
realized  fully  how  they  would  have  been  affected  if  defeat  and 
surrender  had  been  their  lot  after  such  a  fearful  struggle. 1 

When  the  proud  and  sensitive  sons  of  Dixie  came  to  a 
full  realization  of  the  truth  that  the  Confederacy  was 
overthrown  and  their  leader  had  been  compelled  to 
surrender  his  once  invincible  army,  they  could  no  longer 
control  their  emotions,  and  tears  ran  like  water  down 
their  shrunken  faces.  The  flags  which  they  still  carried 
were  objects  of  undisguised  affection.  These  Southern 
banners  had  gone  down  before  overwhelming  numbers ; 
and  torn  by  shells,  riddled  by  bullets,  and  laden  with  the 
powder  and  smoke  of  battle,  they  aroused  intense 
emotion  in  the  men  who  had  so  often  followed  them  to 
victory.  Yielding  to  overpowering  sentiment,  these 
high-mettled  men  began  to  tear  the  flags  from  the  staffs 
and  hide  them  in  their  bosoms,  as  they  wet  them  with 
burning  tears. 

The  Confederate  officers  faithfully  endeavored  to  check 
this  exhibition  of  loyalty  and  love  for  the  old  flags.  A 
great  majority  of  them  were  duly  surrendered;  but 
many  were  secretly  carried  by  devoted  veterans  to  their 

iNew  York  "Times,"  May  4,  1901. 


446  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

homes,  and  will  be  cherished  forever  as  honored  heir 
looms. 

There  was  nothing  unnatural  or  censurable  in  all  this. 
The  Confederates  who  clung  to  those  pieces  of  battered 
bunting  knew  they  would  never  again  wave  as  martial 
ensigns  above  embattled  hosts ;  but  they  wanted  to  keep 
them,  just  as  they  wanted  to  keep  the  old  canteen  with 
a  bullet-hole  through  it,  or  the  rusty  gray  jacket  that 
had  been  torn  by  canister.  They  loved  those  flags,  and 
will  love  them  forever,  as  mementoes  of  the  unparalleled 
struggle.  They  cherish  them  because  they  represent 
the  consecration  and  courage  not  only  of  Lee's  army 
but  of  all  the  Southern  armies,  because  they  symbolize 
the  bloodshed  and  the  glory  of  nearly  a  thousand  battles. 

Some  narrow  but  very  good  and  patriotic  people 
object  to  this  expression  of  Southern  sentiment.  It  was 
not  so,  however,  with  William  McKinley,  that  typical 
American,  who,  while  living  and  while  dying,  exhibited 
in  their  fulness  and  strength  the  virtues  of  a  true  and 
lofty  manhood.  That  chivalric  Union  soldier,  far-see 
ing  statesman,  and  truly  great  President  saw  in  this 
Southern  fidelity  to  past  memories  the  surest  pledge  of 
loyalty  to  future  duties.  William  McKinley  fought  as 
bravely  as  the  bravest  on  the  Union  side ;  but  he  was 
broad  enough  to  recognize  in  his  Southern  countrymen 
a  loyal  adherence  to  the  great  fundamental  truths  to 
which  both  sides  were  devoted.  He  was  too  wise  and 
too  just  to  doubt  the  South's  fealty  to  the  Constitution 
or  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence ; 
for  Madison  was  father  of  the  one  and  Jefferson  of  the 
other.  He  was  great  enough  to  trust  implicitly  the 
South's  renewed  allegiance  to  the  Union  and  its  flag ;  for 
hers  was  the  most  liberal  hand  in  studding  its  field  with 
stars.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  trust  Southern  pluck 
and  patriotism  to  uphold  the  honor  of  the  country  and 
give  liberty  to  Cuba ;  for  he  remembered  Washington 


THE  END   OF   THE   WAR  447 

and  his  rebels  in  the  Revolution,  Jackson  and  his 
Southern  volunteers  at  New  Orleans ;  Zachary  Taylor 
and  his  Louisianians,  Clay  and  his  Kentuckians,  Butler 
and  his  South  Carolinians,  and  Davis  and  his  Mississip- 
pians  in  Mexico. 

The  heartstrings  of  the  mother,  woven  around  the 
grave  of  her  lost  child,  will  never  be  severed  while  she 
lives;  but  does  that  hinder  the  continued  flow  of  ma 
ternal  devotion  to  those  who  are  left  her!  The  South's 
affections  are  bound,  with  links  that  cannot  be  broken, 
around  the  graves  of  her  sons  who  fell  in  her  defence, 
and  to  the  mementoes  and  memories  of  the  great 
struggle;  but  does  that  fact  lessen  her  loyalty  to  the 
proud  emblem  of  a  reunited  country?  Does  her  un 
paralleled  defence  of  the  now  dead  Confederacy  argue 
less  readiness  to  battle  for  this  ever-living  Republic, 
in  the  making  and  the  administering  of  which  she  bore 
so  conspicuous  a  part  ? 

If  those  unhappy  patriots  who  find  a  scarecrow  in 
every  faded,  riddled  Confederate  flag  would  delve  deeper 
into  the  philosophy  of  human  nature,  or  rise  higher, — say 
to  the  plane  on  which  McKinley  stood,— they  would  be 
better  satisfied  with  their  Southern  countrymen,  with 
Southern  sentiment,  with  the  breadth  and  strength  of 
the  unobtrusive  but  sincere  Southern  patriotism.  They 
would  see  that  man  is  so  constituted— the  immutable 
laws  of  our  being  are  such — that  to  stifle  the  sentiment 
and  extinguish  the  hallowed  memories  of  a  people  is  to 
destroy  their  manhood. 

During  these  last  scenes  at  Appomattox  some  of  the 
Confederates  were  so  depressed  in  spirit,  so  filled  with 
apprehensions  as  to  the  policy  to  be  adopted  by  the  civil 
authorities  at  Washington,  that  the  future  seemed  to 
them  shrouded  in  gloom.  They  knew  that  burnt  homes 
and  fenceless  farms,  poverty  and  ashes,  would  greet  them 
on  their  return  from  the  war.  Even  if  the  administration 


448  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

at  Washington  should  be  friendly,  they  did  not  believe 
that  the  Southern  States  could  recover  in  half  a  century 
from  the  chaotic  condition  in  which  the  war  had  left 
them.  The  situation  was  enough  to  daunt  the  most 
hopeful  and  appall  the  stoutest  hearts.  "  What  are  we 
to  do!  How  are  we  to  begin  life  again?"  they  asked. 
"  Every  dollar  of  our  circulating  medium  has  been  ren 
dered  worthless.  Our  banks  and  rich  men  have  no 
money.  The  commodities  and  personal  property  which 
formerly  gave  us  credit  have  been  destroyed.  The 
Northern  banks  and  money-lenders  will  not  take  as 
security  our  lands,  denuded  of  houses  and  without  ani 
mals  and  implements  for  their  cultivation.  The  railroads 
are  torn  up  or  the  tracks  are  worn  out.  The  negroes  are 
freed  and  may  refuse  to  work.  Besides,  what  assurance 
can  we  have  of  law  and  order  and  the  safety  of  our  fami 
lies  with  four  million  slaves  suddenly  emancipated  in 
the  midst  of  us  and  the  restraints  to  which  they  have 
been  accustomed  entirely  removed!" 

To  many  intelligent  soldiers  and  some  of  the  officers 
the  conditions  were  so  discouraging,  the  gloom  so  im 
penetrable,  that  they  seriously  discussed  the  advisability 
of  leaving  the  country  and  beginning  life  anew  in  some 
other  land. 

While  recognizing  the  dire  extremity  which  confronted 
us,  I  was  inclined  to  take  a  more  hopeful  view  of  the 
future.  I  therefore  spoke  to  the  Southern  soldiers  on 
the  field  at  Appomattox,  in  order  to  check  as  best  I 
could  their  disposition  to  leave  the  country,  and  to 
counteract,  if  possible,  the  paralyzing  effect  of  the  over 
whelming  discouragements  which  met  them  on  every 
side. 

As  we  reached  the  designated  point,  the  arms  were 
stacked  and  the  battle-flags  were  folded.  Those  sad  and 
suffering  men,  many  of  them  weeping  as  they  saw  the 
old  banners  laid  upon  the  stacked  guns  like  trappings  on 


THE   END  OF  THE  WAR  449 

the  coffin  of  their  dead  hopes,  at  once  gathered  in  com 
pact  mass  around  me.  Sitting  on  my  horse  in  the  midst 
of  them,  I  spoke  to  them  for  the  last  time  as  their  com 
mander.  In  all  my  past  life  I  had  never  undertaken  to 
speak  where  my  own  emotions  were  so  literally  over 
whelming.  I  counselled  such  course  of  action  as  I 
believed  most  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the  South 
and  of  the  whole  country.  I  told  them  of  my  own  grief, 
which  almost  stifled  utterance,  and  that  I  realized  most 
keenly  the  sorrow  that  was  breaking  their  hearts,  and 
appreciated  fully  the  countless  and  stupendous  barriers 
across  the  paths  they  were  to  tread. 

Reminding  them  of  the  benign  Southern  climate,  of 
the  fertility  of  their  lands,  of  the  vastly  increased  de 
mand  for  the  South's  great  staple  and  the  high  prices 
paid  for  it,  I  offered  these  facts  as  legitimate  bases  of 
hope  and  encouragement.  I  said  to  them  that  through 
the  rifts  in  the  clouds  then  above  us  I  could  see  the  hand 
of  Almighty  God  stretched  out  to  help  us  in  the  impend 
ing  battle  with  adversity;  that  He  would  guide  us  in 
the  gloom,  and  bless  every  manly  effort  to  bring  back  to 
desolated  homes  the  sunshine  and  comforts  of  former 
years.  I  told  them  the  principles  for  which  they  had  so 
grandly  fought  and  uncomplainingly  suffered  were  not 
lost,— could  not  be  lost,— for  they  were  the  principles  on 
which  the  Fathers  had  built  the  Republic,  and  that  the 
very  throne  of  Jehovah  was  pledged  that  truth  should 
triumph  and  liberty  live.  As  to  the  thought  of  their 
leaving  the  country,  that  must  be  abandoned.  It  was 
their  duty  as  patriots  to  remain  and  work  for  the  recu 
peration  of  our  stricken  section  with  the  same  courage, 
energy,  and  devotion  with  which  they  had  fought  for  her 
in  war.  I  urged  them  to  enter  cheerfully  and  hopefully 
upon  the  tasks  imposed  by  the  fortunes  of  war,  obeying 
the  laws,  and  giving,  as  I  knew  they  would,  the  same 
loyal  support  to  the  general  Government  which  they  had 


450    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAB 

yielded  to  the  Confederacy.  I  closed  with  a  prophecy 
that  passion  would  speedily  die,  and  that  the  brave  and 
magnanimous  soldiers  of  the  Union  army,  when  dis 
banded  and  scattered  among  the  people,  would  become 
promoters  of  sectional  peace  and  fraternity. 

That  prophecy  would  have  been  speedily  fulfilled  but 
for  the  calamitous  fate  that  befell  the  country  in  the 
death  of  President  Lincoln;  and  even  in  spite  of  that 
great  misfortune,  we  should  have  much  sooner  reached 
the  era  of  good-will  and  sectional  concord  if  the  spirit  of 
the  soldiers  who  did  the  fighting  had  animated  the 
civilians  who  did  the  talking. 

As  I  began  to  speak  from  my  horse,  large  numbers  of 
Union  soldiers  came  near  to  hear  what  I  had  to  say, 
giving  me  a  rather  queerly  mixed  audience.  The  Hon. 
Elihu  Washburne,  afterward  United  States  Minister  to 
France,  the  close  friend  of  both  President  Lincoln  and 
General  Grant,  was  present  at  the  surrender,  as  the 
guest  of  the  Union  commander.  He  either  heard  this 
parting  speech  or  else  its  substance  was  reported  to  him. 
As  soon  as  the  formalities  were  ended,  he  made  himself 
known  to  me,  and  in  a  most  gracious  manner  expressed 
his  pleasure  at  the  general  trend  of  my  remarks.  He 
assured  me  that  the  South  would  receive  generous  treat 
ment  at  the  hands  of  the  general  Government.  My 
special  object  in  referring  to  Mr.  "Washburne  in  this 
connection  is  to  leave  on  record  an  emphatic  statement 
made  by  him  which  greatly  encouraged  me.  I  can  never 
forget  his  laconic  answer  to  my  inquiry :  "  Why  do  you 
think,  Mr.  Washburne,  that  the  South  will  be  generously 
dealt  with  by  the  Government?"  "Because  Abraham 
Lincoln  is  at  its  head,"  was  his  reply. 

I  knew  something  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  past  history,  of  his 
lifelong  hostility  to  slavery,  of  his  Emancipation  Procla 
mation  and  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war ;  but  I  had 
no  knowledge  whatever  of  any  kindly  sentiment  enter- 


THE   END   OF   THE  WAR  451 

tained  by  him  toward  the  Southern  people.  The  em 
phatic  words  of  Mr.  Washburne,  his  intimate  friend  and 
counsellor,  greatly  interested  me.  I  was  with  Mr.  Wash 
burne  for  several  succeeding  days — we  rode  on  horse 
back  together  from  Appomattox  back  toward  Peters 
burg  ;  and  his  description  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  character,  of 
his  genial  and  philanthropic  nature,  accompanied  with 
illustrative  anecdotes,  was  not  only  extremely  entertain 
ing,  but  was  to  me  a  revelation.  He  supported  his 
declaration  as  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  kindly  sentiments  by 
giving  an  elaborate  and  detailed  account  of  his  meeting 
with  our  commissioners  at  Hampton  Roads.  He  ex 
pressed  the  opinion  that  the  President  went  to  that 
meeting  with  the  fixed  purpose  of  ending  the  war  by 
granting  the  most  liberal  terms,  provided  the  Southern 
commissioners  acquiesced  in  the  sine  qua  rton—tke  re 
storation  of  the  Union. 

We  parted  at  Petersburg,  and  among  the  last  things 
he  enjoined  was  faith  in  the  kindly  purposes  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  in  reference  to  the  Southern  people.  Mr.  Wash 
burne  said  that  the  President  would  recommend  to 
Congress  such  legislation  as  in  his  opinion  would  pro 
mote  the  prosperity  of  the  South.  He  was  emphatic  in 
his  declaration  that  Mr.  Lincoln  desired  only  the  restora 
tion  of  the  Union— that  even  the  abolition  of  slavery 
was  secondary  to  this  prime  object.  He  stated  that  the 
President  had  declared  that  if  he  could  restore  the 
Union  without  abolition,  he  would  gladly  do  it ;  if  he 
could  save  the  Union  by  partial  abolition  of  slavery,  he 
would  do  it  that  way ;  but  that  if  it  became  necessary  to 
abolish  slavery  entirely  in  order  to  save  the  Union,  then 
slavery  would  be  abolished :  that  as  his  great  object  had 
been  achieved  by  the  surrender  of  Lee's  army,  it  would 
speedily  be  known  to  the  Southern  people  that  the 
President  was  deeply  concerned  for  their  welfare,  that 
there  would  be  no  prosecutions  and  no  discriminations, 


452   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

but  that  the  State  governments  would  be  promptly 
recognized,  and  every  effort  made  to  help  the  Southern 
people.  These  impressive  assurances  were  adding  strength 
to  my  hopes  when  the  whole  country  was  shocked  by 
the  assassination  of  the  President. 

General  Gibbon,  General  Griffin,  and  General  Merritt 
were  appointed  by  General  Grant  to  meet  Generals  Peri- 
dleton,  Longstreet,  and  myself,  appointed  by  General  Lee. 
The  special  duty  which  devolved  on  these  six  officers 
was  the  discussion  and  drafting  of  all  details  to  carry 
out  the  formal  surrender,  according  to  the  general  terms 
agreed  upon  by  the  commander  s-in-chief.  In  all  our 
intercourse  with  those  three  Union  officers  I  can  recall 
no  expression  or  word  that  could  possibly  wound  the 
sensibility  of  a  Confederate.  Rejoiced  as  they  naturally 
were  at  the  termination  of  the  long  and  costly  struggle, 
and  at  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  Union  cause,  they 
scrupulously  avoided  allusions  to  battles  in  which  the 
Federal  armies  had  been  victors,  and  endeavored  rather 
to  direct  conversation  to  engagements  in  which  the 
Union  forces  had  been  vanquished.  Indeed,  Confederate 
officers  generally  observed  and  commented  upon  this 
spirit,  which  at  that  time  seemed  to  actuate  the  privates 
as  well  as  the  officers  of  the  victorious  army. 

As  the  Confederates  were  taking  leave  of  Appomattox, 
and  about  to  begin  their  long  and  dreary  tramp  home 
ward,  many  of  the  Union  men  bade  them  cordial  fare 
well.  One  of  Grant's  men  said  good-naturedly  to  one  of 
Lee's  veterans : 

"  Well,  Johnny,  I  guess  you  fellows  will  go  home  now 
to  stay." 

The  tired  and  tried  Confederate,  who  did  not  clearly 
understand  the  spirit  in  which  these  playful  words  were 
spoken,  and  who  was  not  at  the  moment  in  the  best 
mood  for  badinage,  replied: 

"  Look  here,  Yank ;  you  guess,  do  you,  that  we  fellows 


THE   END   OF   THE   WAR  453 

are  going  home  to  stay !  Maybe  we  are.  But  don't  be 
giving  us  any  of  your  impudence.  If  you  do,  we  '11  come 
back  and  lick  you  again." 

Probably  in  no  military  organization  that  ever  existed 
were  there  such  cordial  relations  between  officers  and 
private  soldiers  as  in  the  Confederate  army.  This  was 
due,  doubtless,  to  the  fact  that  in  our  ranks  there  were 
lawyers,  teachers,  bankers,  merchants,  planters,  college 
professors,  and  students  who  afterward  became  chief 
justices,  governors,  and  occupants  of  the  highest  public 
stations.  Since  the  war  some  of  these  privates  have 
told  with  great  relish  of  the  old  farmer  near  Appomat- 
tox  who  decided  to  give  employment,  after  the  surrender, 
to  any  of  Lee's  veterans  who  might  wish  to  work  a  few 
days  for  food  and  small  wages.  He  divided  the  Con 
federate  employes  into  squads  according  to  the  re 
spective  ranks  held  by  them  in  the  army.  He  was 
uneducated,  but  entirely  loyal  to  the  Southern  cause. 
A  neighbor  inquired  of  him  as  to  the  different  squads : 

"  Who  are  those  men  working  over  there  ? " 

"  Them  is  privates,  sir,  of  Lee's  army." 

"  Well,  how  do  they  work?  " 

"  Very  fine,  sir ;  first-rate  workers." 

"  Who  are  those  in  the  second  group? " 

"  Them  is  lieutenants  and  captains,  and  they  works 
fairly  well,  but  not  as  good  workers  as  the  privates." 

"  I  see  you  have  a  third  squad :  who  are  they  !  " 

"  Them  is  colonels." 

"  Well,  what  about  the  colonels  ?  How  do  they 
work ! " 

"  Now,  neighbor,  you  '11  never  hear  me  say  one  word 
ag'in'  any  man  who  fit  in  the  Southern  army ;  but  I  ain't 
a-gwine  to  hire  no  generals." 

The  paroles  issued  to  the  Confederates  were  carefully 
examined  by  the  possessors,  and  elicited  a  great  variety 
of  comment.  Each  man's  parole  bore  his  name  and  the 


454    REMINISCENCES   OF   THE  CIVIL  WAR 

name  of  his  company  and  regiment,  and  recorded  his 
pledge  to  fight  no  more  until  he  was  regularly  exchanged. 
A  few  hoped  for  an.  early  exchange  and  release  from  this 
pledge,  that  they  might  continue  the  struggle  with  some 
organized  force,  operating  in  a  different  section  of 
the  Confederacy.  They  were  looking  hopefully  to  the 
Trans-Mississippi,  where,  even  after  the  surrender  of  Lee 
and  Joe  Johnston  and  Richard  Taylor  east  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  Generals  Kirby  Smith,  Magruder,  and  Forney, 
with  Simon  Bolivar  Buckner  as  chief  of  staff,  were  still 
appealing  to  Confederates  to  "stand  to  their  colors." 
That  gallant  little  army  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  had 
fought  many  desperate  battles  under  such  leaders  as 
McCulloch,  Mclntosh,  Ross,  Green,  Maxey,  Waul,  Price, 
Van  Dorn,  Pike,  Walker,  Shelby,  and  W.  L.  Cabell,  of 
whom  General  Marmaduke  wrote :  "  The  elan  and  chiv 
alrous  bearing  of  Cabell  inspired  all  who  looked  upon 
him  " ;  and  these  few  unyielding  spirits  at  Appomattox 
were  still  panting  for  continued  combat  in  the  ranks  of 
those  unsurrendered  forces  beyond  the  great  Father 
of  Waters.  The  more  thoughtful,  however,  knew  that 
the  war  was  over.  They  carefully  preserved  their 
paroles,  and  were  as  proud  of  them  as  a  young  graduate 
is  of  his  diploma,  because  these  strips  of  paper  furnished 
official  proof  of  the  fact  that  they  were  in  the  fight  to 
the  last.  This  fact  they  transmit  as  a  priceless  legacy 
to  their  children. 

When  I  returned  to  Petersburg  from  Appomattox, 
I  found  Mrs.  Gordon  rapidly  recovering,  and  as  soon  as 
she  was  able  to  travel,  in  company  with  Captain  James 
M.  Pace  of  my  staff  and  his  little  family,  who  had  joined 
him,  we  began  our  arduous  trip  homeward,  over  broken 
railroads  and  in  such  dilapidated  conveyances  as  had 
been  left  in  the  track  of  the  armies.  In  Petersburg 
it  was  impossible  to  secure  among  the  recently  emanci 
pated  negroes  any  one  willing  to  accompany  us  as  nurse 


THE    END   OF   THE   WAK  455 

for  our  child.  This  fact  imposed  upon  me  the  necessity 
of  continuing  for  a  time  my  command  of  infantry  in 
arms  —  a  situation  more  trying  to  me  in  some  respects 
than  the  one  from  which  I  had  just  been  relieved  by 
General  Grant  at  Appomattox. 

The  generous  terms  of  surrender  given  to  Lee  by 
Grant  were  exceeded  in  liberality  by  those  which  W.  T. 
Sherman  offered  to  Joseph  E.  Johnston  in  North  Caro 
lina.  In  the  memorandum  of  agreement  between  Gen 
erals  Sherman  and  Johnston  (April  18,  1865)  occur  the 
following  items : 

"  The  Confederate  armies  now  in  existence  to  be  dis 
banded  and  conducted  to  their  State  capitals,  there  to 
deposit  their  arms  and  public  property  in  the  State 
arsenals,"  etc.  The  President  of  the  United  States  was 
to  recognize  the  "  several  State  governments  on  their 
officers  and  legislatures  taking  the  oaths  prescribed  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States."  The  Federal 
courts  were  to  be  reestablished  in  the  Southern  States, 
the  people  of  the  South  were  to  be  guaranteed  their 
political  rights,  and  rights  of  person  and  property,  with  a 
general  amnesty.  Briefly  analyzed,  these  liberal  terms 
meant  that,  with  the  exception  of  slavery  (nothing  was 
said  on  that  subject),  the  Southern  States  and  people 
were  instantly  to  resume  the  relations  to  the  general 
Government  which  they  had  occupied  before  the  war 
began,  and,  instead  of  surrendering  their  arms,  were  to 
deposit  them  in  State  arsenals  for  ready  use  in  sup 
pressing  riots,  enforcing  law,  and  protecting  homes  and 
property. 

These  terms  of  surrender  proposed  by  General  Sher 
man  reveal  a  spirit  in  extreme  contrast  to  that  which  he 
showed  toward  the  Southern  people  in  his  unobstructed 
march  to  the  sea.  In  his  agreement  with  General  John 
ston  his  magnanimity  is  scarcely  paralleled  by  that  of 
any  victorious  commander  whereas  in  his  long  general 


456   REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

orders  for  the  conduct  of  his  troops  on  their  travel  from 
demolished  Atlanta  to  his  goal  by  the  sea,  fully  one  half 
of  his  words  are  directions  for  systematic  "foraging," 
destruction  of  "  mills,  houses,  cotton-gins,"  etc.,  and  for 
spreading  "  a  devastation  more  or  less  relentless  n  accord 
ing  to  the  hostility  shown  by  different  localities  on  the 
line  of  his  march.  It  is  due  to  General  Sherman  to  say 
that  he  had  his  peculiar  ideas  of  waging  war  and  making 
it  "  hell,"  but  when  it  was  over  he  declared,  "  It  is  our 
solemn  duty  to  protect  and  not  to  plunder." 

The  terms  proposed  by  him  to  General  Johnston  were 
so  liberal  that  they  were  promptly  rejected  by  the  civil 
authorities  at  Washington.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  dead  and 
Andrew  Johnson  was  President;  Mr.  Stanton  was  Sec 
retary  of  War,  and  General  Halleck  ranked  General  Sher 
man  in  the  field.  This  vindictive  trio — Johnson,  Stanton, 
and  Halleck — rejected  General  Sherman's  agreement  with 
General  Johnston ;  and  Stanton  and  Halleck  sought  to 
humiliate  Sherman  and,  as  he  declared,  to  insult  him.  In 
his  "  Memoirs  "  General  Sherman  writes :  "  To  say  that 
I  was  angry  at  the  tone  and  substance  of  these  bulletins 
of  the  War  Department  would  hardly  express  my  feel 
ings.  I  was  outraged  beyond  measure,  and  was  resolved 
to  resent  the  insult,  cost  what  it  might " ;  and  he  did  resent 
it  in  the  most  emphatic  manner.  In  regard  to  the  absurd 
report  that  Mr.  Davis  had  carried  out  of  Richmond  vast 
sums  of  money,  General  Sherman  writes :  "  The  thirteen 
millions  of  treasure  with  which  Jeff  Davis  was  to  corrupt 
our  armies  and  buy  his  escape  dwindled  down  to  the 
contents  of  a  hand-valise." 

A  great  Frenchman  pronounced  the  French  Revolution 
an  "  about-face  of  the  universe."  The  meeting  of  Lee 
and  Grant  at  Appomattox  was  the  momentous  epoch  of 
the  century.  It  marked  greater  changes,  uprooted  a 
grander  and  nobler  civilization,  and,  in  the  emancipation 
of  one  race  and  the  impoverishment  of  another,  it  in- 


THE  END  OF  THE   WAR  457 

volved  vaster  consequences  than  had  ever  followed  the 
fall  of  a  dynasty  or  the  wreck  of  an  empire.  It  will 
stand  in  history  as  the  Brook  Kedron  over  which  the 
Southern  people  passed  to  their  Gethsemane ;  where 
every  landscape  was  marred  by  ruins;  where  every 
breath  of  air  was  a  lament  and  every  home  a  house  of 
mourning. 

The  magnanimity  exhibited  at  Appomattox  justifies 
me  in  recording  here  my  conviction  that,  had  it  been 
possible  for  General  Grant  and  his  soldiers  to  foresee  the 
bloody  sweat  which  through  ten  successive  years  was 
wrung  from  Southern  brows,  the  whole  Union  army 
would  then  and  there  have  resolved  to  combat  all  un 
friendly  legislation.  Or,  later,  if  Booth's  bullet  had  not 
terminated  the  life  filled  with  "  charity  to  all  and  malice 
toward  none,"  President  Lincoln's  benign  purposes, 
seconded  by  the  great-hearted  among  our  Northern 
countrymen,  would  have  saved  the  South  from  those 
caricatures  of  government  which  cursed  and  crushed 
her. 

In  looking  back  now  over  that  valley  of  death— the 
period  of  reconstruction,— its  waste  and  its  woe,  it 
is  hard  to  realize  that  the  worn  and  impoverished  Con 
federates  were  able  to  go  through  it.  The  risen  South 
of  to-day  is  a  memorial  of  the  same  patience,  endurance, 
and  valor  which  immortalized  the  four  years'  struggle 
for  Southern  independence. 

All  accounts  agree  that  when  the  two  great  command 
ers  met  in  the  little  brick  house  at  Appomattox,  they 
presented  a  contrast  that  was  unique  and  strikingly 
picturesque.  A  stranger,  unacquainted  with  the  situ 
ation,  would  have  selected  Lee  for  the  conqueror  and 
Grant  for  the  vanquished  hero.  Prompted  by  a  sincere 
respect  for  the  illustrious  Federal  chieftain,  General  Lee 
was  dressed  in  his  best  uniform,  and  appeared  at  the 
place  of  conference  in  faultless  military  attire.  General 


458    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Grant,  on  the  other  hand,  had  received,  while  on  his  lines 
among  his  soldiers,  General  Lee's  reply  to  his  last  note. 
Without  returning  to  headquarters  for  his  dress  uni 
form,  the  Union  commander  rode  at  once  to  the  point 
of  meeting,  wearing  his  fatigue  suit,  his  cavalry  boots 
begrimed  with  Virginia  mud,  and  his  plain  blue  overcoat 
concealing  all  insignia  of  rank.  I  never  heard  General 
Grant  say  so,  but  his  characteristic  modesty  and  mag 
nanimity,  with  which  I  became  familiar  in  after  years, 
lead  me  to  believe  that  consideration  for  General  Lee 
prompted  this  absence  of  ostentation. 

Probably  nothing  I  can  say  of  these  illustrious  sol 
diers  will  add  to  the  fame  of  either.  I  am  conscious  of 
my  inability  to  give  a  clear  conception  of  their  distin 
guishing  and  dissimilar  but  altogether  admirable  charac 
teristics.  Nevertheless,  as  the  follower  and  friend  of 
Lee  and  the  sincere  admirer  of  Grant,  I  desire  to  place 
on  record  in  this  concluding  chapter  my  estimate  of 
both  these  representative  Americans. 

Unless  it  be  Washington,  there  is  no  military  chieftain 
of  the  past  to  whom  Lee  can  be  justly  likened,  either  in 
attributes  of  character  or  in  the  impress  for  good  made 
upon  the  age  in  which  he  lived.  Those  who  knew  him 
best  and  studied  him  most  have  agreed  that  he  was 
unlike  any  of  the  great  captains  of  history.  In  his 
entire  public  career  there  was  a  singular  absence  of  self- 
seeking.  Otherwise  he  would  have  listened  to  the  woo- 
ings  of  ambition  when  debating  the  course  he  should 
take  at  the  beginning  of  our  sectional  conflict.  He  knew 
that  he  could  hold  any  position  he  might  wish  in  the 
armies  of  the  Union.  Not  only  by  General  Scott,  the 
commander-in-chief,  but  by  his  brother  officers  and  the 
civil  authorities,  Lee  was  recognized  as  the  foremost  sol 
dier  in  the  United  States  army.  He  knew,  for  he  so 
declared,  that  the  South's  chances  for  success,  except 
through  foreign  intervention,  were  far  from  encouraging. 


THE   END    OF   THE   WAR  459 

What  would  Caesar  or  Frederick  or  Napoleon  have  done  ? 
Deaf  to  every  suggestion  of  a  duty  whose  only  promised 
reward  was  an  approving  conscience  in  ultimate  defeat, 
allured  by  the  prospect  of  leading  armies  with  over 
whelming  numbers  and  backed  by  limitless  resources,  any 
one  of  these  great  captains  would  have  eagerly  grasped 
the  tendered  power.  It  was  not  so  with  Lee.  Trained 
soldier  that  he  was,  he  stood  on  the  mountain-top  of 
temptation,  while  before  his  imagination  there  passed  the 
splendid  pageant  of  conquering  armies  swayed  by  his 
word  of  command ;  and  he  was  unmoved  by  it.  Gradu 
ated  at  West  Point,  where  he  subsequently  served  as 
perhaps  its  most  honored  superintendent ;  proud  of  his 
profession,  near  the  head  of  which  he  stood ;  devoted  to 
the  Union  and  its  emblematic  flag,  which  he  long  had  fol 
lowed  ;  revered  by  the  army,  to  the  command  of  which  he 
would  have  been  invited— he  calmly  abandoned  them  all 
to  lead  the  forlorn  hope  of  his  people,  impelled  by  his  con 
viction  that  their  cause  was  just.  Turning  his  back  upon 
ambition,  putting  selfish  considerations  behind  him,  like 
George  Washington  in  the  old  Revolution,  he  threw  him 
self  and  all  his  interests  into  an  unequal  struggle  for 
separate  government.  When  John  Adams  of  Massa 
chusetts  declared  that,  sink  or  swim,  survive  or  perish, 
he  gave  his  heart  and  hand  to  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  he  stood  on  precisely  the  same  moral  plane 
on  which  Robert  E.  Lee  stood  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  the  war.  As  the  north  star  to  the  sailor,  so  was 
duty  to  this  self-denying  soldier.  Having  decided  that 
in  the  impending  and  to  him  unwelcome  conflict  his 
place  was  with  his  people,  he  did  not  stop  to  consider 
the  cost.  He  resolved  to  do  his  best;  and  in  estimating 
now  the  relative  resources  and  numbers,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  he  did  more  than  any  leader  has  ever  accom 
plished  under  similar  conditions.  And  when  the  end 
came  and  he  realized  that  Appomattox  was  the  grave  of 


460  REMINISCENCES   OF  THE   CIVIL   WAR 

his  people's  hopes,  he  regretted  that  Providence  had  not 
willed  that  his  own  life  should  end  there  also.  He  not 
only  said  in  substance,  to  Colonel  Venable  of  his  staff 
and  to  others,  that  he  would  rather  die  than  surrender 
the  cause,  but  he  said  to  me  on  that  fatal  morning  that 
he  was  sorry  he  had  not  fallen  in  one  of  the  last  battles. 
Yet  no  man  who  saw  him  at  Appomattox  could  detect 
the  slightest  wavering  in  his  marvellous  self-poise  or 
any  lowering  of  his  lofty  bearing.  Only  for  a  fleeting 
moment  did  he  lose  complete  self-control.  As  he  rode 
back  from  the  McLean  house  to  his  bivouac,  his  weeping 
men  crowded  around  him ;  and  as  they  assured  him  in 
broken  voices  of  their  confidence  and  love,  his  emotions 
momentarily  overmastered  him,  and  his  wet  cheeks  told 
of  the  sorrow  which  his  words  could  not  express. 
Throughout  that  crucial  test  at  Appomattox  he  was  the 
impersonation  of  every  manly  virtue,  of  all  that  is  great 
and  true  and  brave — the  fittest  representative  of  his  own 
sublimely  beautiful  adage  that  human  virtue  should 
always  equal  human  calamity. 

The  ancient  Romans  and  Greeks  deified  after  death 
their  heroes  who  possessed  any  one  of  the  great  virtues, 
all  of  which  were  harmoniously  blended  in  this  great 
Southerner.  It  required,  however,  neither  his  removal 
by  death  nor  the  hallowing  influences  of  distance  or  time 
to  consign  him  to  the  Pantheon  of  Immortals.  It  was 
more  literally  true  of  him  than  of  any  man  I  ever  knew, 
among  those  whom  the  world  honors,  that  distance  was 
not  needed  to  enhance  his  greatness. 

A  distinguished  Georgian,  the  Hon.  Benjamin  H.  Hill, 
truthfully  declared  that  Lee  was  Caesar  without  his 
crimes,  Bonaparte  without  his  ambition,  and  George 
Washington  without  his  crown  of  success ;  and  it  is  my 
firm  conviction  that  when  his  campaigns  and  his  char 
acter  are  both  understood,  such  will  be  the  verdict  of 
Christendom. 

General  Grant's  bearing  at  Appomattox,  his  acts  and 


THE   END   OF  THE   WAR  461 

his  words,  did  much  to  alleviate  the  anguish  inseparable 
from  such  an  ordeal.  The  tenor  of  his  formal  notes,  the 
terms  granted  at  the  appointed  meeting,  the  prompt  and 
cordial  manner  in  which  he  acquiesced  in  each  and 
every  suggestion  made  by  the  Southern  commander,  left 
upon  the  minds  of  Confederates  an  ineffaceable  im 
pression.  In  looking  back  now  over  the  intervening 
years,  I  am  glad  that  I  have  never  been  tempted,  in 
the  heat  of  political  contests,  even  while  the  South  was 
enduring  the  agony  of  the  carpet-baggers'  rule,  to  utter 
one  word  of  bitterness  against  that  great  and  magnani 
mous  Union  soldier.  Before  the  meeting  at  Appomattox 
the  Confederates  were  decidedly  prejudiced  against 
General  Grant,  chiefly  because  of  his  refusal  to  exchange 
prisoners  and  thus  relieve  from  unspeakable  suffering 
the  thousands  of  incarcerated  men  of  both  armies.  On 
this  account  Southern  men  expected  from  him  cold 
austerity  rather  than  soldierly  sympathy.  Their  pre 
vious  conceptions  of  him,  however,  were  totally  changed 
when  they  learned  that  our  officers  were  to  retain  their 
side-arms ;  that  both  officers  and  privates  were  to  keep 
their  horses;  that  their  paroles  protected  them  from 
molestation  on  their  homeward  trip  and  in  their  peaceful 
pursuits,  so  long  as  they  obeyed  the  laws ;  and  that  in 
the  prolonged  official  interview  there  was  no  trace  of 
exultation  at  his  triumph,  but  that  he  was  in  word  and 
act  the  embodiment  of  manly  modesty  and  soldierly 
magnanimity,  and  that  from  first  to  last  he  was  evi 
dently  intent  upon  mitigating  the  bitterness  of  defeat 
and  soothing  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability  the  lacerated 
sensibilities  of  his  great  antagonist. 

General  Grant's  own  declaration,  made  many  years 
after  the  war,  that  he  felt  "  sad  and  depressed  "  as  he 
rode  to  meet  General  Lee  in  the  little  village  of  Appo 
mattox,  is  entirely  consistent  with  every  account  given 
of  his  bearing  at  the  surrender. 

It  was  reported  at  the  time,  and  has  since  been  con- 


462  REMINISCENCES  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

firmed  by  Union  officers  who  were  present,  that  he 
positively  refused  to  permit  Union  artillery  to  fire  a 
salute  in  celebration  of  the  victory  over  his  own 
countrymen.  The  exhibitions  of  G-eneral  Grant's  mag 
nanimity  which  I  observed  during  my  personal  inter 
course  with  him  immediately  after  the  war,  later  while 
he  was  President,  and  when  he  became  a  private  citizen, 
are  all  consistent  with  the  spirit  manifested  by  him  at 
the  surrender  of  Lee's  army.  In  his  u  Memoirs  "  he  has 
given  a  quietus  to  that  widely  circulated  romance  that 
he  returned  to  Lee  his  proffered  sword.  I  do  not  doubt 
that  he  would  have  done  so ;  but  there  was  no  occasion 
for  Lee's  offering  it,  because  in  the  terms  agreed  upon  it 
was  stipulated  that  the  Confederate  officers  should  retain 
their  side-arms. 

During  the  imprisonment  and  vicarious  punishment  of 
the  inflexible  and  stainless  ex-President  of  the  Con 
federacy,  both  General  Richard  Taylor  of  Louisiana  and 
I  had  repeated  conferences  with  the  general-in-chief  of 
the  United  States  army,  in  the  hope  of  securing  the 
release  of  the  distinguished  prisoner.  After  one  of  the 
visits  of  the  gallant  Louisianian  to  General  Grant,  Taylor 
told  me  of  a  conversation  in  reference  to  the  probability 
of  General  Grant's  becoming  President.  Taylor  said 
that  General  Grant  assured  him,  with  evident  sincerity, 
that  he  had  no  desire  to  be  President,  —  that  his  tastes 
and  training  were  those  of  a  soldier,  and  that  he  was 
better  fitted  for  the  station  he  then  held  than  for  any 
civil  office,  —  but  that  Taylor  could  rest  assured,  if  the 
office  of  President  ever  came  to  him,  he  would  endeavor 
to  know  no  difference  between  the  people  of  the  different 
sections.  The  Southern  people  felt  that  they  had  cause 
to  complain  of  President  Grant  for  a  lack  of  sympathy 
during  those  years  when  imported  rulers  misled  credu 
lous  negroes  and  piled  taxes  to  the  point  of  confiscation 
In  order  to  raise  revenues  which  failed  to  find  their  way 


THE   END   OF  THE  WAR  463 

into  State  treasuries;  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  General  Grant  was  not  a  politician,  and  as  the 
first  civil  office  that  came  to  him  was  the  Presidency, 
he  was  naturally  influenced  by  those  whom  he  regarded 
as  statesmen  and  whose  long  training  in  civil  affairs 
seemed  peculiarly  to  fit  them  for  counsellors. 

General  Grant  was  not  endowed  by  nature  with  the 
impressive  personality  and  soldierly  bearing  of  Winfield 
Scott  Hancock,  nor  with  the  peculiarly  winning  and 
magnetic  presence  of  William  McKiiiley — few  men  are; 
but  under  a  less  attractive  exterior  he  combined  the 
strong  qualities  of  both.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Andrew  Johnson,  the  infatuated  zealot  who  came  to  the 
Presidency  on  the  ill-fated  martyrdom  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  would  have  followed  his  threat  to  "  make  treason 
odious  "  by  an  order  for  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  of 
Lee  and  other  Confederate  leaders  but  for  the  stern  man 
date  of  Grant  that,  in  spite  of  Johnson's  vindictive  pur 
poses,  the  Southern  soldier  who  held  a  parole  should  be 
protected  to  the  last  extremity. 

The  strong  and  salutary  characteristics  of  both  Lee 
and  Grant  should  live  in  history  as  an  inspiration  to 
coming  generations.  Posterity  will  find  nobler  and  more 
wholesome  incentives  in  their  high  attributes  as  men 
than  in  their  brilliant  careers  as  warriors.  The  lustre 
of  a  stainless  life  is  more  lasting  than  the  fame  of  any 
soldier;  and  if  General  Lee's  self-abnegation,  his  un 
blemished  purity,  his  triumph  over  alluring  temptations, 
and  his  unwavering  consecration  to  all  life's  duties  do 
not  lift  him  to  the  morally  sublime  and  make  him  a  fit 
ideal  for  young  men  to  follow,  then  no  human  conduct  can 
achieve  such  position. 

And  the  repeated  manifestations  of  General  Grant's 
truly  great  qualities — his  innate  modesty,  his  freedom 
from  every  trace  of  vain-glory  or  ostentation,  his  mag 
nanimity  in  victory,  his  genuine  sympathy  for  his  brave 


464    REMINISCENCES  OF  THE   CIVIL  WAR 

and  sensitive  foemen,  and  his  inflexible  resolve  to  protect 
paroled  Confederates  against  any  assault,  and  vindicate, 
at  whatever  cost,  the  sanctity  of  his  pledge  to  the  van 
quished—will  give  him  a  place  in  history  no  less  renowned 
and  more  to  be  envied  than  that  secured  by  his  triumphs 
as  a  soldier  or  his  honors  as  a  civilian.  The  Christian 
invocation  which  came  from  his  dying  lips,  on  Mount 
McGregor,  summoning  the  spirit  of  peace  and  unity  and 
equality  for  all  of  his  countrymen,  made  a  fitting  close  to 
the  life  of  this  illustrious  American. 

Scarcely  less  prominent  in  American  annals  than 
the  record  of  these  two  lives,  should  stand  a  catalogue 
of  the  thrilling  incidents  which  illustrate  the  nobler 
phase  of  soldier  life  so  inadequately  described  in 
these  reminiscences.  The  unseemly  things  which  oc 
curred  in  the  great  conflict  between  the  States  should  be 
forgotten,  or  at  least  forgiven,  and  no  longer  permitted  to 
disturb  complete  harmony  between  North  and  South. 
American  youth  in  all  sections  should  be  taught  to  hold 
in  perpetual  remembrance  all  that  was  great  and  good  on 
both  sides ;  to  comprehend  the  inherited  convictions  for 
which  saintly  women  suffered  and  patriotic  men  died ; 
to  recognize  the  unparalleled  carnage  as  proof  of  unri 
valled  courage;  to  appreciate  the  singular  absence  of 
personal  animosity  and  the  frequent  manifestation  be 
tween  those  brave  antagonists  of  a  good-fellowship  such 
as  had  never  before  been  witnessed  between  hostile 
armies.  It  will  be  a  glorious  day  for  our  country 
when  all  the  children  within  its  borders  shall  learn 
that  the  four  years  of  fratricidal  war  between  the  North 
and  the  South  was  waged  by  neither  with  criminal  or 
unworthy  intent,  but  by  both  to  protect  what  they 
conceived  to  be  threatened  rights  and  imperilled  liberty ; 
that  the  issues  which  divided  the  sections  were  born 
when  the  Republic  was  born,  and  were  forever  buried  in 
an  ocean  of  fraternal  blood.  We  shall  then  see  that, 


THE   END   OF   THE   WAK  465 

under  God's  providence,  every  sheet  of  flame  from  the 
blazing  rifles  of  the  contending  armies,  every  whizzing 
shell  that  tore  through  the  forests  at  Shiloh  and  Chan 
cellors  ville,  every  cannon-shot  that  shook  Chickamau- 
ga's  hills  or  thundered  around  the  heights  of  Gettysburg, 
and  all  the  blood  and  the  tears  that  were  shed  are 
yet  to  become  contributions  for  the  upbuilding  of 
American  manhood  and  for  the  future  defence  of  Amer 
ican  freedom.  The  Christian  Church  received  its  bap 
tism  of  pentecostal  power  as  it  emerged  from  the 
shadows  of  Calvary,  and  went  forth  to  its  world-wide 
work  with  greater  unity  and  a  diviner  purpose.  So  the 
Republic,  rising  from  its  baptism  of  blood  with  a 
national  life  more  robust,  a  national  union  more  com 
plete,  and  a  national  influence  ever  widening,  shall  go 
forever  forward  in  its  benign  mission  to  humanity. 


INDEX 


Adams,  General,  killed  at  Chickatuauga, 

206 
Akin,  Colonel  Warren,  foresees  his  son's 

death,  |02,  63 

Alexander,  General,  135 ;  Gettysburg,  165 
Alger,  General  R.  A.,  49 
Allen,  Captain  Vanderbilt,  441 
Altoona,  defence  of  fort  at,  77,  78 
Anderson,  General,  at  Sailor's  Creek,  429 
Antietam,  81-88 
Apporaattox,  429,  436,  437;  surrender  of 

General  Lee's  army,  443  et  seq. 
Archer,  General,  captured,  150 
Armistead,  General,  158 ;  Gettysburg,  166 
Avery,  Colonel,  161 

Baird,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  205,  206 
Baldwin,  General,  killed  at  Chickamauga, 

204 

Banks,  General  N.  P.,  215,  330 
Barksdale,  General,  163 
Barlow,  General  Francis  C.,  wounded  at 

Gettysburg,  151, 152 

Bate,  General,  127;  at  Chickamauga,  207 
"  Battle  above  the  Clouds,"  219 
Battle,  General,   at   Fisher's   Hill,   326; 

Cedar  Creek,  354 ;  quoted,  366 
Beasley,  William,  narrowly  escapes  cap 
ture,  264-266 
Beatty,  General,  209 
Beauregard,  General,  at  Bull  Run,  37,  38; 

succeeds  General  A.  8.  Johnston,  125 
Bee,  General,  71 ;  death,  72 
Bell,  Captain,  at  Seven  Pines,  57 
Berry,  General,  129 
Bethune,  Billy,  219 
Black,  Jere,  22 

Blair,  Postmaster-General,  315 
"  Bloody  Angle,"  272,  284-286,  289,  290 
Bosquet,  quoted,  128 
Boteler,  A.  B.,  303 
Boynton,  General  H.  V.,  on  Chickamauga, 

210,  211  ;  quoted,  226 
Bragg,    General   Braxton,    126  ;    offends 

General  Breckinridge,  192,  193  ;   evac 


uates  Chattanooga,  194-197;  before 
Chickamauga,  200,  201;  Chickamauga, 
201  et  seq. ;  reasons  for  not  pursuing 
General  Rosecrans,  213-217  ;  Missionary 
Ridge,  224 ;  Ringgold,  224 ;  relieved,  225 ; 
New  Market,  302 ;  Winchester,  320-322, 
325 

Branuan,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  206, 
209 

Breckinridge,  John  C.,  28,  135;  at  Mur- 
freesboro,  192,  193;  Chickamauga,  205, 
206,  207 

Breckinridge,  son  of  John  C.,  captured, 
225 

Breckluridge,  Rev.  Robert  J.,  28 

Brooke,  Captain  J.  M.,  122 

Brooke,  Colonel,  163 

Brown,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  207 

Brown,  Joseph  E.,  5 

Brown's  Gap,  329 

Brownlow,  Parson,  33 

Buckland,  189 

Buckner,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  202, 
208 ;  appeals  to  Confederates,  454 

Buell,  General,  209 

Bull  Run,  battle  of,  37,  38;  Confederate 
victories,  120 

Burnside,  General,  captures  Fort  Macon 
and  Newbern,  122;  defeated  at  Freder- 
icksburg,  124;  Wilderness,  May  6,  259, 
260 ;  Spottsylvania,  273 

Butler,  General  Benjamin  F.,  at  New  Or 
leans,  121;  his  wooden  leg,  129 

Butterworth,  General  Benjamin,  anec 
dote,  431 

Cabell,W.  L.,454 

Campbell,  Judge,  384 

Carlin,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  203,  208 

Carter,  Colonel  Thomas  H.,  at  Cedar 
Creek,  341 ;  quoted,  359 ;  at  Appomattox, 
436,  437 

Cedar  Creek,  332  etseq.;  causes  of  the  Con 
federate  defeat,  354-363 ;  defence  of  the 
Confederate  soldiers,  363-372 


467 


468 


INDEX 


Chamberlain,  General  J.  L.,  at  surrender 

of  Lee's  army,  444 ;  quoted,  444 
Chambersburg,  304 
Champion  Hill,  183 
Clumcellorsville,  95  etseq. 
Cheatham,  General,  79;  Chickamauga,  202, 

203,  205 

Chickahominy,  54-58 

Chickatnauga,  193;  compared  with  other 
great  battles,  199 ;  first  day's  battle,  201- 
204 ;  night  after  the  battle,  204,  205 ;  sec 
ond  day's  battle,  205-212 ;  victory  claimed 
by  both  sides,  210 ;  comparative  strength 
of  the  armies,  210 

Christian  family,  fatality,  375,  376 

Civil  War,  outbreak  of,  13, 14 ;  causes,  18- 
25 

Clayton,  Colonel,  178 

Cleburne,  General  Patrick,  126  ;  death, 
126;  at  Chickamauga,  202,  205,  206 

Clift,  Major  M.  H.,  31 

Cobb,  General,  135 

Cold  Harbor,  295,  297,  298 

Colquitt,  General  Alfred  Holt,  400 

folquitt,  General  Peyton,  at  Chicka 
mauga,  206 

Congress,  frigate,  surrenders  to  the  Vir 
ginia,  122 

Cook,  General  Philip,  411 

Cooper,  II.  8.,  98 

Crittenden,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  208 

Crook,  General,  344 ;  captured,  362 

Cross,  Colonel,  163 

Croxton,  General,  209 

Cumberland,  sunk  by  the  Virginia,  122 

Curtiu,  General,  104 

Curtis,  General  Newton  M.,  115,  116 

Cushing,  Lieutenant,  166 

Custer,  General,  439,  440 

Dabney,  Major,  398 

Dana,  C.  A.,  quoted  on  Chickamauga,  210, 
note 

Daniel,  General,  killed  at  Spottsylvania, 
273 

Daniel,  John  W.,  129;  wounded,  Wilder 
ness,  May  6,  250 

Davant,  Colonel,  captured  at  Spottsyl 
vania,  287 

Davis,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  208 

Davis,  Jefferson,  14 ;  on  secession,  15  ;  re 
moves  General  J.  E.Johnston  from  chief 
command,  127,  131-134;  General  Lee's 
eulogy,  393 

Deshlei',  General,  at  Chickamauga,  207 

Devil's  Den,  162 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  22 

Dupont,  Commodore,  122 


Early,  General,  100,  135,  146;  at  Gettys 
burg,  153;  loses  redoubt  near  Rappa- 
hannock,  189,  190;  Wilderness,  May  6, 
255,  258-260 ;  Lynchburg,  300;  near  Wash 
ington,  314-816 ;  in  Sheuandoaii  Valley, 
317;  characteristics,  317,  318;  anecdote, 
319;  Winchester,  319,  320,  325,  330;  Fish 
er's  Hill,  326;  after  Fisher's  Hill,  327;  at 
Brown's  Gap,  329,  330 ;  reenforced  by 
Kershaw,  330,  3;J1 ;  Cedar  Creek,  332, 33", 
336,  342,  347,  3 ".4  ct  scq.;  forces  at  Cedar 
Creek,  r-43 ;  makes  charges  against  his 
troops,  364. 

Ebright,  Colonel  Aaron  W.,  premonition 
of  his  death,  61,  62 

Edwards,  Major,  30 

Ericsson,  Captain  John,  122 

Essex,  Earl  of,  396 

Evans,  General  Clement  A.,  135;  Wilder 
ness,  May  6, 249 ;  wounded  at  Monocacy, 
312,';  ascends  Massauutten  Mountain, 
336;  at  Cedar  Creek,  338,  339,  347,  348; 
quoted,  361,  365;  transferred  to  Peters 
burg,  374 

Ewell,  General,  at  Bull  Run,  38;  eccen 
tricity,  38, 39 ;  anecdotes,  39-42, 129 ;  with 
Lee,  135;  Gettysburg,  153  ct  scq.;  his 
wooden  leg,  157;  his  romance,  157, 158; 
Wilderness,  May  5,  237-239 ;  May  6,  255 ; 
captured  at  Sailor's  Creek,  429 

Fair  Oaks.    See  Seven  Pines 

Farnsworth,  General,  death  at  Gettys 
burg,  170 

Farragut,  Admiral,  121 

Faucette,  W.  F.,  his  heroism,  114 

Faulkner,  C.  J.,  303 

Fernandina,  122 

Field,  General,  135 

Fisher's  Hill,  326 

Five  Forks,  417  419 

Forney,  General,  454 

Forrest,  General  N.  B.,  127;  at  Chicka 
mauga,  201-203 

Fort  Curtis,  181 

Fort  Donelson,  120 

Fort  Henry,  120 

Fort  Hindman,  181 

Fort  Macon,  122 

Fort  Pillow,  121 

Fort  Stedman,  394 ;  assault  on,  400  ct  seq. 

Franklin,  General,  capture  and  escape, 
317 

Freemantle,  Colonel,  quoted,  306, 307 

Fremont,  General,  330 

Garnett,  General,  158,  164 

George,  ,  Confederate  scout,  stir- 


INDEX 


469 


ring  adventure,  424,  425;  captures  two 
Union  spies,  425-427 

Getty,  General,  314 

Gettysburg,  150  et  sen.  /  compared  with 
Waterloo,  It; 9,  170 

Gliiseliu,  medical  director,  quoted,  342 

Gibbon,  General,  1G4,  452 

Gildersleeve,  Professor  B.  A.,  422 

Goggin,  J.  M.,  quoted,  b67 

Gordon,  Captain  Augustus,  at  Seven 
Pines,  56,  58;  death,  58,  64,  Go 

Gordon,  Major  Eugene  C.,  at  Monocacy, 
313 

Gordon,  General  J,  B.,  kinsman  of  Gen 
eral  John  B.  Gordon,  death,  152 

Gordon,  General  John  B.,  3 ;  marriage,  3  ; 
first  command,  3  et  seq. ;  elected  major, 
13 ;  reaches  Virginia,  32  ;  meets  Andrew 
Johnson,  35 ;  at  General  Grant's  funeral, 
35;  Bull  Run,  38,  39;  winter  quarters  in 
Virginia,  18-51 ;  in  a  wreck,  52  ;  retreats 
from  Yorktowri,  53;  at  Seven  Pines,  56- 
58;  brigade  commander,  58;  Malvern 
Hill,  73-75;  at  Antietam,  82-88;  badly 
wounded, 89,  90;  nursed  by  Mrs.  Gordon, 
91 ;  returns  to  the  army,  92 ;  brigade 
commander,  95;  retakes  fort  on  Marye's 
Heights,  100;  famous  war-horses,  101- 
104;  in  Pennsylvania,140-146  ;  atWrights- 
ville,  147-150;  Gettysburg,  150  et  seq.; 
leaves  Gettysburg,  172  ;  crosses  the  Po 
tomac,  172,  173;  in  camp  near  Clark's 
Mountain,  229 ;  Wilderness,  battle  of, 
May  5, 237-242 ;  May  G,  243  ct  seq .;  escapes 
capture  by  exciting  night  ride,  263-266  -, 
Spottsylvania,  272,  274-281,  284,  285; 
Lyuchburg,  300 ;  Monocacy,  309-313  ;  near 
Washington,  314-316;  Shenandoah  Val 
ley,  317 ;  Winchester,  319-326;  Fisher's 
Hill,  326;  after  Fisher's  Hill,  327  ;  plans 
attack  on  Sheridan  from  Massanutten 
Mountain,  333-335 ;  Cedar  Creek,  335-342, 
346-349;  escape,  349-351;  fatal  halt  at 
Cedar  Creek,  354-363 ;  defends  the  Con 
federate  soldiers,  363-372  ;  after  Cedar 
Creek,  372;  transferred  to  Petersburg, 
374  ;  at  Petersburg,  376  et  seq.;  a  gloomy 
Christmas,  379;  consults  with  General 
Lee.  385-394 ;  in  the  trenches  at  Peters 
burg,  395-390;  plans  assault  on  Fort 
Stedman,  400-408 ;  captures  Fort  Sted- 
man,  409,  410 ;  necessary  withdrawal 
from  the  fort,  411,  412;  after  Fort  Sted 
man,  415 ;  retreats  from  Petersburg,  420, 
423,  424 ;  captures  Union  spies,  425-428  ; 
ordered  toward  Appomnttox,  428;  at 
Appomattox,  429,  430;  last  council  of 
war,  435;  attempts  to  cut  through 


Grant's  lines,  436,  437  ;  report  to  General 
Lee,  438  ;  sends  flag  of  truce  to  General 
Ord,  438;  conference  with  General  Cua- 
ter,  439 ;  with  General  Sheridan,  440-442 ; 
surrenders  at  Appomattox,  443  et  seq. ; 
speech  to  his  soldiers,  448-450;  confer 
ence  with  Hon.  Elihu  Washburne,  450, 
451 ;  at  the  formal  surrender,  452;  starts 
homeward,  454;  estimate  of  General 
Lee,  458-4GO;  of  General  Grant,  461-464 

Gordon,  Mrs.  John  B.,  narrow  escape  in 
wreck,  52  ;  at  Seven  Pines,  58, 59 ;  nurses 
General  Gordon,  91;  follows  General 
Gordon,  319  ;  at  Winchester,  320,  322, 323 ; 
in  Petersburg,  423 ;  starts  homeward, 
454 

Gordon,  General  William  W.,  32 

Gordon,  Mrs.  W.  W.,  32 

Govan,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  202, 
207 

Grady,  Henry  W.,  81 

Granger,  General  Gordon,  at  Chicka 
mauga,  205,  209 

Grant,  General  F.  D.,  302 

Grant,  General  Ulysses  S.,  quoted,  23;  vic 
tories,  125;  takes  Vicksburg,  177,  178, 
182-187 ;  tunnel  at  Fort  Hill,  183-185  ;  dis 
places  General  Rosecrans,  216 ;  arrives 
at  Chattanooga,  221,  223;  Missionary 
Ridge,  223,  224;  Wilderness,  May  5,  236- 
242;  May  6,  243  et  seq. ;  fails  to  dislodge 
Lee,  262;  moves  to  Spottsylvania,  269, 
270  et  seq. ;  Spottsylvania,  May  18,  289, 
290 ;  after  Spottsylvania,  290  et  seq. ;  let 
ter  to  General  Halleck,  292,  293  ;  Cold 
Harbor,  298;  respect  for  private  prop 
erty,  304,  30C ;  at  Petersburg,  376,  377, 
391,  422 ;  Five  Forks,  417 ;  pursues  Lee's 
army,  423 ;  asks  for  surrender,  435 ;  sur 
render  of  Lee's  army,  443  et  seq. ;  Gen 
eral  Gordon's  estimate  of,  461-464 

Graveyard  Hill,  181 

Greeley,  Horace,  22 

Green,  General,  454 

Gregg,  General,  171 ;  Wilderness,  May  6, 
257 ;  captured  at  Appomattox,  430 

Griffin,  General,  452 

Grimes,  General  Bryan,  338;  quoted,  366; 
transferred  to  Petersburg,  374 

Hale,  Major  Daniel,  killed  at  Spottsyl 
vania,  281 

Halleck,  General,  174, 175,  466 

Halstead,  Murat,  226 

Hampton,  129,  135 

Hampton  Roads,  battle  of  ironclads  at, 
122 

Hancock,  General,  35,  36  ;  quoted  on  Get- 


470 


INDEX 


tysburg,  156;  wounded  at  Gettysburg, 
164;  Wilderness,  May  6,  256,  259;  at 
Spottsylvania,  273  ;  assault  at  Spottsyl- 
Vania,  274-276;  repulsed,  280;  second 
assault,  289,  290 

Hanson,  General,  death  at  Murfreesboro, 
193 

Haralson,  Miss  Fanny,  marriage  to  Gen 
eral  John  B.  Gordon,  3.  See  Mrs.  John 
B.  Gordon 

Haralson,  General  Hugh  A.,  3 

Hardoe,  General,  127 

Harker,  General,  209 

Harper's  Ferry,  120 

Harris,  Dr.  Charles  H.,  375 

Hatcher's  Run,  379 

Hathaway,  Captain  William  A.,  death,  62 

Hazlett,  Lieutenant,  163 

Healey,  Private,  185 

Heg,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  203 

Helena,  178, 179 

"Hell's  Half  Acre,"  289,  290 

Helm,  General,  killed  at  Chickamauga, 
206 

Henderson,  Colonel,  329 

Henry,  Patrick,  quoted,  345 

Heth,  General,  135 ;  wounded,  150 ;  Gettys 
burg,  164 ;  anecdote,  416 

Heyward,  W.  C.,  17 

Hill,  General  A.  P.,  loses  four  hundred 
men,  189;  Wilderness,  May  6,  256;  ill 
health,  379 ;  death  at  Five  Forks,  418, 419 

Hill,  Benjamin  H.,  14,  135;  tribute  to 
General  Lee,  460 

Hill,  General  D.  H.,  at  Malvern  Hill,  67, 
73 ;  Antietam,  84 ;  with  Lee,  135 ;  at 
Chickamauga,  205 

Hindman,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  205, 
209 

Hoke,  General,  135 

Holmes,  General,  at  Helena,  179 ;  arrests 
General  Shelby,  180 

Hood,  General  John  B.,  127,  128,  129;  at 
Gettysburg,  162 ;  Chickamauga,  207 

Hooker,  General,  at  Lookout  Mountain, 
97,  219-221 ;  relieved  of  command,  124 

Hopkins,  Rev.  A.  C.,  367;  quoted,  368 

"  Hornet's  Nest,"  181 

Horses,  famous,  101-104 

Horseshoe  Ridge,  208,  209 

Hotchkiss,  Captain,  333,  335 ;  quoted,  355, 
361,  362,  363,  373 

Humphreys,  General,  at  Gettysburg,  163 

Hunter,  Hon.  Andrew,  303 

Hunter,  General,  retreats  from  Lynch  - 
burg,  300-303 

Hunter,  Mr.,  384 

Hunter,  Hon.  R.  M.  T.,  10, 11,  301 


Hunter,  Major  R.  W.,  301,  333,  398,  440  j 
quoted,  360 

Island  Number  Ten,  121 

Jackson,  battle  of,  182 

Jackson,  General  (Stonewall),  origin  of 
his  sobriquet,  71 ;  at  Malvern  Hill,  72, 73 ; 
at  Bull  Run,  71 ;  character,  95,  98,  99 ; 
ability,  96  ;  death,  96,  99 ;  cautiousness, 
128;  needed  at  Gettysburg,  154 ;  and  in 
the  Wilderness,  260,  261;  at  Brown's 
Gap,  329,  330 

Jacksonville,  122 

Jacques,  Colonel,  226 

Jenkins,  General,  killed,  Wilderness,  May 
6,  256 

"Joe  Brown's  pikes,"  5 

Johnson,  Andrew,  33 ;  narrowness  of,  34, 
456 

Johnson,  General  Bradley  T.,  316 ;  cap- 
tuxes  General  Franklin,  317 

Johnson,  General  Bushrod,  at  Chicka 
mauga,  205 

Johnson,  General  Edward,  155,  164  ;  at 
Spottsylvania,  274;  captured,  275,  288; 
on  General  Hunter,  303 

Johnson,  General  Robert,  Wilderness 
May  6,  248,  249;  Spottsylvania,  275; 
wounded,  276 

Johnson,  General  R.  W.,  at  Chickamauga, 
205 

Johnston,  General  Albert  Sidney,  125; 
death,  125 

Johnston,  General  Joseph  E.,  at  Bull  Run, 
37;  retreats  from  Yorktown,  52,  54;  at 
Williarasburg,  54  ;  removed  from  chief 
command,  127,  131-134;  tries  to  relieve 
Genera  1  Pemberton,  182  ;  battle  of  Jack 
son,  182;  surrenders,  454,  455  ;  receives 
liberal  terms  from  General  Sherman, 
455 

Jones,  Captain,  398 

Jones,  General,  135 

Jones,  Rev.  J.  William,  D.D.,  quoted,  154, 
409,  410 

Jones,  Thomas  G.,  112, 113, 277, 352;  bravery 
at  Fort  Stedman,  412 

Keifer,  General  J.  Warren,  quoted,  61,  62 
Kelley,  General,  captured,  362 
Kemper,  General,  158, 164 
Kershaw,  General,  135 ;  at  Chickamauga, 

205,    208;    reenforces    Early,   330,    331; 

captured  at  Sailor's  Creek,  429 
King,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  202 
Kinzie,  Nellie,  32 
Kirkpatrick,  Major,  at  Cedar  Creek,  348 


INDEX 


471 


Lacey,  Rev.  Dr.,  96 

Lamar,  Colonel,  death,  378 

Lane,  Rev.  Charles,  106 

Law,  General,  at  Chickarnauga,  205 

Law,  Jolm  Gordon,  captured  at  Spottsyl- 
vania,  287 

Lee,  Captain,  381 

Lee,  General  Custis,  captured  at 
Sailor's  Creek,  429 

Lee,  Edmund,  303 

Lee,  General  Fitzhugh,  231;  at  Appo 
mattox,  430,  435-437 

Lee,  "  Light  Horse  Harry,"  192 

Lee,  General  Robert  E.,  14;  quoted,  24; 
at  Antietam,  83,  84 ;  tribute  to  Stone 
wall  Jackson,  98  ;  modesty,  132 ;  chief 
iu  command  in  Virginia,  135  ;  apprecia 
tion  of  privates,  136;  crosses  Potomac, 
137-140;  Gettysburg,  154  ct  seq.,  160;  re 
sponsibility  for  the  defeat,  166-169; 
offers  his  resignation,, 175,  176;  opposes 
General  Meade's  army  near  the  Rapi- 
dan,  188-191 ;  opinion  of  newspapers, 
213 ;  deep  religious  feelings,  231,  232 ; 
extracts  from  his  letters,  231,  232 ;  Wil 
derness,  May  5,  236-242 ;  comments  on 
the  assault  upon  Sedgwick,  267;  pre 
dicts  Grant's  movement  to  Spottsyl- 
vania,  268-270;  at  Spottsylvania,  272, 
273,  278,  279 ;  mourns  General  Stuart's 
death,  273 ;  May  18,  289,  290 ;  after  Spott 
sylvania,  290  et  seq.;  Cold  Harbor,  298; 
orders  against  destruction  of  private 
property,  305-308;  character,  308,  309; 
plans  to  release  prisoners  at  Point 
Lookout,  316;  at  Hatcher's  Run,  379; 
favors  enlistment  of  slaves,  382 ;  in  dire 
straits  at  Petersburg,  385-394,  422 ; 
orders  to  General  Gordon,  397  ;  consid 
ers  plan  of  assault  on  Fort  Stedman, 
401-405 ;  letter  to  General  Gordon,  407  ; 
Five  Forks,  417-419 ;  orders  retreat  from 
Petersburg,  420,  423  ;  orders  movement 
toward  Appomattox,  428;  at  Appo- 
mattox,  430,  433,  434,  437,  438  ;  his  calm 
bearing,  431 ;  last  council  of  war,  434- 
436 ;  flag  of  truce  with  General  Grant, 
438 ;  surrenders  at  Appomattox,  443  et 
seq. ;  tribute  by  General  Gordon,  458- 
460,  463  ;  death,  464 

Lee,  R.  E.,  Jr.,  422 

Lee,  Stephen  D.,  124, 135 

Letch er,  Governor,  303 

Lewis,  General,  411 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  on  slavery,  15;  atti 
tude  toward  the  South,  450-452;  assas 
sination,  452 

Lloyd,  Dick,  180 


Locke,  Mr.  James,  108 

"  Logan's  Slaughter  Pen,"  186 

Lomax,  General  L.  L.,  at  Cedar  Creek 
344 

Lomax,  Colonel  Tenuani,  presentiment  of 
his  death,  60,  61 

Long,  General  A.  L.,  135;  at  Spottsylva- 
ma,  280;  quoted  on  Spottsylvania,  281, 
note 

Longstreet,  Judge  A.  B.,  93,  94 

Longstreet,  General,  135,  160,  161;  at 
Chickamauga,  205,  207,  209 ;  Wilderness, 
May  6,  256;  Appomattox,  435-437;  sur 
renders,  443,  452 

Lookout  Mountain,  the  "  Battle  above  the 
Clouds,"  219 

Louis  XV,  quoted,  135 

Lovell,  General,  31 

Luther,  Martin,  quoted,  292 

Lynchburg,  300 

Lytle,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  208 

McCausland,  General,  at  Monocacy,  310 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,  48 ;  army 
lands  at  Yorktown,  52 ;  Malvern  Hill, 
67 ;  restored  to  command,  81 ;  mag 
netism,  123 ;  replaced  by  General  Pope, 
123 

McCook,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  208 

McCulloch,  General,  121,  454 

McDowell,  General,  at  Bull  Run,  37, 38, 123 

McDuffle,  Mr.,  93,  94 

Mclntosh,  General,  454 

McKinley,  William,  tribute  to,  446 

McLaughlin,  General,  captured  at  Fort 
Stedman,  410 

McNeill,  Captain,  362 

Magruder,  General,  52,  464 

Mahone,  General,  135;  at  Appomattox, 
430 

Malvern  Hill,  72-85 

Manassas,  37 

Manderson,  General,  221 

Manigault,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  208 

Markoe,  Captain,  398 

Marmaduke,  General,  178;  kills  General 
Walker  in  a  duel,  179 

Marshall,  Colonel  Charles,  420 

Marye's  Heights,  capture  of  fort  on,  100 

Massauutten  Mountain,  333,  334 

Maxey,  General,  454 

Meade,  General,  124 ;  Gettysburg,  155, 158 ; 
characteristics,  159;  after  Gettysburg, 
174;  resigns,  175;  on  the  Rapidan,  188- 
191 ;  Wilderness,  251 ;  after  Spottsylva 
nia,  290, 291 ;  meets  General  Lee  at  Appo- 
mattox,  443 

Memphis,  121 


472 


INDEX 


Merrimac,  frigate,  converted  into  iron 
clad,  122 

Merritt,  General,  452 

Milroy,  General,  68,  329 

Missionary  Ridge,  compared  with  Mara 
thon,  217,  218 ;  loss  of  by  Confederates, 
223,  224 ;  depressing  effect  on  the  South, 
226 

Mississippi  River,  Confederates  lose  con 
trol  of,  181 

Monocacy,  309-313 

Monitor,  ironclad,  122, 123 

Moore, ,  220 

Moore,  Governor  of  Alabama,  9 

Moore,  Major,  398 

Mott,  General,  at  Spottsylvania,  273 

Murfreesboro,  192,  193 

Negley,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  206, 208 
Nelson,  Major,  anecdote,  222 
Nesmith,  Major,  death,  56 
Newbern,  122 
Nightingale,  Florence,  414 

Gates,  Colonel,  wounded,  219 
Ord,  General,  438,  439 

Pace,  Captain  J.  M.,  454 

Pace,  Major,  398 

Paganini,  393 

Palmer,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  205 

Patterson,  General,  37 

Payne,  General,  at  Cedar  Creek,  338,  339 

Pea  Ridge,  121 

Peck,  General,  225 

Pegram,  General,  at  Cedar  Creek,  339; 
transferred  to  Petersburg,  374;  death, 
377 

Pemberton,  General,  31 ;  surrenders  to 
General  Grant  at  Vicksburg,  178,  182- 
187 

Pendleton,  General,  135  ;  interview  with 
General  Lee,  433,  434  ;  at  Appomattox, 
435;  at  the  formal  surrender  of  Lee's 
army,  452 

Peters,  Colonel  W.  E.,  305 

Petersburg,  414 ;  evacuation  of,  420 

Pettigrew,  General,  164 

Pettus,  General,  220 

Peyton,  Colonel  Green,  438 

Pickett,  General,  135 

Pike,  General  Albert,  121,  454 

Pike,  Corporal,  223 

Point  Lookout,  315,  316 

Polk,  General  L.  E.,  at  Chickamauga,  202 

Polk,  General  Leonidas,  death,  79 ;  char 
acter,  79 

Pope,  General  John,  123 


Porter,  General  Horace,  quoted  on  Wilder 
ness,  May  6,  251,  252,  257 ;  on  Spottsyl- 
vauia,  269,  286,  note ;  on  General  Grant's 
order  to  Meade,  290 

Potomac,  General  Lee's  reasons  for  cross 
ing,  137-140 

Potter,  Hon.  Clarksou,  152 

Prentiss,  General,  at  Helena,  181 

Preston,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  205, 
208 

Price,  General  Sterling,  at  Helena,  178, 
179 

Putnam,  General  Israel,  349 

"Raccoon  Roughs,"  9;  assigned  to  the 
Sixth  Alabama,  13,  26;  uniforms,  26,  27 

Ramseur,  Major-General,  63;  foresees  his 
death,  64,  338;  with  Lee,  135  ;  at  Spott 
sylvania,  280;  Winchester,  320, 321;  Cedar 
Creek,  338,  339 

Rapidan,  fighting  near,  189 

Religious  enthusiasm  in  the  Confederate 
Army,  229  et  seq.;  at  Petersburg,  416,  417 

Rewalt,  Mrs.  L.  L.,  148-150 

Reynolds,  General  John  F.,  death,  150 

Reynolds,  General  Joseph  J.,  at  Chicka 
mauga,  205,  206 

Ringgold,  224 

Robinson,  Dr.  Stuart,  29 

Rodes,  General,  at  Seven  Pines,  56 ;  with 
Lee,  135;  at  Spottsylvania,  280;  near 
Washington,  314 ;  Winchester,  320-322  ; 
death,  321 

Rosecrans,  General,  compels  General 
Bragg  to  evacuate  Chattnnooga,  194- 
197;  before  Chickamauga,  200,  201;  at 
Chickamauga,  201,  202,  208  ;  ability,  212 ; 
removal,  225,  226 

Ross,  General,  454 

Rosser,  General,  at  Cedar  Creek,  340,  346 ; 
quoted,  361 

Ruger,  General,  164 

Russell,  General,  captures  a  redoubt,  190 

Ryan,  Father,  286 

Ryan,  Private  Michael,  185 

Sailor's  Creek,  429 
Saxe,  Marshal,  129 
Scales,  General,  wounded  at  Gettysburg, 

150 

Scipio  Africanus,  308 
Scribner,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  202 
Sedgwick,  General,  190 ;  Wilderness,  May 

6,  246-250 

Seibles,  Colonel,  26 
Semmes,  General,  at  Gettysburg,  163 
Seven  Pines,  battle  of,  55-58;  burial  of 

the  dead,  70 


INDEX 


Seymour,  General,  Wilderness,  May  c, 
249,  251 

Shaler,  General,  Wilderness,  May  6, 249,251 

Sharpsburg.    See  Antietam 

Shelby,  General  Joe,  at  Helena,  178 ;  ar 
rested  by  General  Holmes,  179,  180; 
death, 180 

Sheridan,  General,  at  Chickainauga,  206; 
destroys  Southern  property,  303, 304;  at 
Winchester,  319-322,  330;  Fisher's  Hill, 
326;  after  Fisher's  Hill,  327-332;  Cedar 
Creek,  342,  345,  346,  357,  358 ;  forces  at 
Cedar  Creek,  343 ;  after  Cedar  Creek, 
373  ;  at  Five  Forks,  418  ;  conference  with 
General  Gordon,  440-442 

Sherman,  General  WT.  T.,  relieves  the 
fort  at  Altoona,  78;  foresees  the  long 
struggle,  80  ;  around  Memphis,  124 ;  lib 
eral  terms  to  General  Johnston,  455; 
insulted  by  the  War  Department,  456 

Shields,  General,  330 

Sickles,  General  Daniel  E.,  129 ;  at  Gettys 
burg,  163 

Si  gel,  General,  302 

Slavery,  its  influence  in  starting  the  Civil 
War,  18,  19 

Smith,  Kirby,  General,  120,  454 

Smith,  General  Preston,  killed  at  Chicka- 
mauga,  204 

Smith,  General  William,  155 

Snodgrass  House,  208,  209 

South  Side  Eailroad,  376,  377 

Southall,  Captain  S.  V.,  quoted,  359 

Spottsylvania,  271-286 ;  Hancock's  as 
sault,  274-276;  Confederate  counter 
charge,  280 ;  fight  over  the  breastworks, 
282  ;  heroism,  285  ;  May  17,  289,  296 

Stanley,  General,  209 

Stanton,  Secretary  of  War,  190,  456 

Steedman,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  209 

Stephens,  Alexander  Hamilton,  Confed 
erate  Vice-President,  14 

Stephens,  Mr.,  384 

Steuart,  General  George,  captured  at 
Spottsylvania,  275 

Stevenson,  Hon.  A.  E.,  quoted,  25 

Stewart,  General  A.  P.,  at  Chickamauga, 
202,  203,  205,  206 

Stuart,  General  "  Jeb,"  99.  135 ;  at  Gettys 
burg,  170;  at  Buckland,  18D ;  in  the 
Wilderness,  269 ;  killed  at  Yellow  Tav 
ern,  Va.,  273 

Swinton,  William,  quoted  on  Spottsyl 
vania,  286,  note 

Tanner,  "Corporal,"  130,  131 
Taylor,  General  Richard,  surrenders,  454 ; 
conversation  with  General  Grant,  462 


Taylor,  Colonel  Walter  II.,  155 

Tew,  Colonel,  death,  89 

Thomas,  General   George  H.,  31,  121,  123; 

at  Chickamauga,  201,  207 ;    Missionary 

Ridge,  223,  224 

Trimble,  General,  death,  164 
Troup, ,  quoted,  23 

Upton,  General,  captures  redoubt,  190; 
wounded  at  Spottsylvania,  273 

Van  Cleve,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  206, 

208,  209 
Van  Dervecr,  General,  at  Chickamauga, 

207,  209 

Van  Dorn,  General,  454 
Venable,  Colonel  C.  S.,  at  Appoinattox, 

437 ;  quoted,  438 

Vickers,  Private,  bravery  and  death,  66 
Vicksburg,  chivalry  at,  109 ;  surrenders  to 

General  Grant,  178 ;  explosion  of  tunnel, 

at  Fort  Hill,  184-186 
Vincent,  General,  163 
Virginia,  ironclad,  122,  123 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  302 
Voltaire,  quoted,  137 

Walker,  General,  at  Helena,  178;  killed  in 
duel  by  General  Marmaduke,  179 

Walker,  Hon.  L.  P. ,  17 

Walker,  W.  H.  T.,  126 ;  death,  127 ;  Chicka 
mauga,  205 

Wallace,  General  Lew,  at  Monocacy,  309- 
313 

Walthal,  General  E.  C.,  126;  at  Chicka 
mauga,  202,  206  ;  at  Lookout  Mountain, 
220,  221 

Warren,  General,  Gettysburg,  162  ;  Spott 
sylvania,  273 

Washburne,  Hon.  Elihu,  450 

Washington,  threatened,  309,  314 

Watts,  Hon.  Thomas,  112 

Wauhatchie,  219 

Waul,  General,  454 

Weatherly,  Dr.,  90 

Weed,  General,  163 

Wharton,  General,  at  Winchester,  322 ; 
Fisher's  Hill,  326;  Cedar  Creek,  339; 
quoted,  361,  366 

Wheeler,  General  Joseph,  127 

White,  Dr.  H.  A.,  quoted  on  the  condition 
of  the  Confederate  army  at  Petersburg, 
419 

Whiting,  General,  at  Malvern  Hill,  72,  73 

Whiting,  Major,  366 

Whittier,  General  C.  A.,  quoted,  421,  422 

Wilcox,  General,  135, 164 

Wilder,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  206, 208 


474  INDEX 

Wilderness,   battle   of,   May   5,   236-242;  Wright,  General,  at  Spottsylvania,  May 

battle  of  May  6,  243-261 ;   losses,  262 ;  17,  289,  290 ;  Cedar  Creek,  344,  345 

result,  263  Wright,  Gordon,  95 

Willard,  Colonel,  163  Wrightsville,  143 

Williamson,  General  J.  A.,  225 

Willingham,  Lieutenant-Colonel,   death,  Yorktown,  McClellan's  army  lands  at,  52 ; 

56  retreat  of  Confederate  army,  52 

Wilmer,  Captain,  398  Young,  Hon.  John  Russell,  quoted  on  tbr 

Winchester,  319-326  battle  of  Lookout  Mountain,  219 

Winston,  John  R.,  quoted,  367 

Wise,  General,  anecdote,  434  Zollicoffer,  General,  121 

Wood,  General,  at  Chickamauga,  206,  209  Zook,  General,  Its 


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